Fine Line Between Love and Hate
by Pennie
Summary: It's finally complete. Ali and Randy really hate each other because of their past. When Randy's mom innocently sets him up with her, his dad and sister keep the romance going. Will they cross the line between love and hate
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you are familiar with. I did create Leigh Orton and Alyssandra Collins. Those are the only original characters in this chapter.  
  
Chapter One  
  
Randy prepared himself for what he knew was coming. He was going home for Christmas and his mother, who he loved dearly, was going to nag him about how he was old enough to start looking for the one.  
  
He was looking for the one, as his mother called it, he just hadn't found her yet, he told himself as he opened the door to his parents home. He was immediately greeted by his sister and his niece.  
  
"Randy I have someone I want you to meet," his mother, Ella, called a few minutes after he arrived.  
  
"Yes Mom," He said dreading what was going to come next. His mother trying to set him up was never a good thing.  
  
"Hi Mom," he said giving his mother a big hug. He did love her after all.  
  
"Randy I want to you to meet Alyssandra Collins," his mom said as a girl came out of the shadows. She was very pretty with long dark hair and chocolate colored eyes. That's when it dawned on him. She was the girl that made his high school years miserable.  
  
Alyssandra didn't realize she was going to be set up with the one person who made her teenage years miserable. At almost twenty five years old she should be able to put high school behind her and be able to forgive and forget, but she'd never forgive him.  
  
She couldn't leave, aside from it being impolite she didn't have anywhere else to go. Her parents died almost a year ago, and she'd rather not spend Christmas Eve alone.  
  
"Ali, I never thought I'd see you again," Randy admitted.  
  
"My name is Alyssandra; only my friend call me Ali," she told him coolly. She wasn't going to be cruel but she wasn't going to be friendly.  
  
Her words stung Randy even though he would never admit it to anyone. She hadn't always been that cold to him; in fact, at one point they had dated. Sure they had only been fourteen, but that was probably the best part of high school for him. Unfortunately, the school slut (every school has at least one) Kate kissed him, and Ali ran before he pushed her away.  
  
So many painful memories flooded back when she saw him. She remembered him going behind her back then trying to lie about it. She remembered their four year long feud and all the cutting remarks about any tiny imperfection. She'd thought about killing herself during their senior year, but then decided that if she did then she would let him win. She would burn in hell before she would let him win.  
  
"Ali, Randy, will you guys set the table please. Your grandparents will be here any minute," Mrs. Orton said.  
  
"I still hate you," Ali whispered when the pair were alone in the dining room.  
  
"Trust me the feeling's mutual," He told her. He wasn't going to give if she didn't give. He wasn't sure he really hated her but he wasn't going to let her know that. She could use it against him.  
  
"If your mother hadn't been so nice to me since my parents died I'd tell you off right here," she told him not realizing what she let slip.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't know your parents died," Randy said softening slightly. He was a grown man and he didn't know what he would do without his parents.  
  
"I don't want your pity," she snapped. "You don't give a damn anyway."  
  
"You're right. I was trying to be pleasant. I figured we should practice for Mom's sake," Randy told her hardening again. If she wasn't going to give then neither was he.  
  
"Oh, God," Leigh said walking into the dining room. She couldn't believe what she saw; her twin brother and his arch nemesis both alive in the same room.  
  
"Leigh, don't tell Mom we hate each other," Randy said. He knew how she could get.  
  
"And have to worry about her killing the messenger, I think I'd rather not."  
  
"Hey, Leigh," Ali said pleasantly.  
  
Randy wasn't sure what to think. Leigh tormented Ali just as much as he had, but they'd buried the hatchet so to speak, so why couldn't they? Leigh saw the whole event so she obviously took her brother's side.  
  
"I'm only saying this once. Randy didn't cheat on you Ali. Kate kissed him and when he realized what was going on he pushed her away," Leigh said. This was the only misconception she was going to clear up. The rest of their misconceptions of each other they were going to have to clear up on her own. Randy and Ali still had reason to hate each other.  
  
"Whatever," Ali said.  
  
Randy was thrilled that Ali at least knew the truth. Maybe eventually the could be friends again. He missed their friendship a lot.  
  
A moment later Randy's grandparents arrived and dinner was served. Randy had to sit next to Ali per his mother's instructions, but he hardly noticed since eh was in an animated wrestling discussion with his father and grandfather.  
  
"That was wonderful," everyone complimented Ella's cooking.  
  
Randy's grandparents left shortly after dinner. Ali was preparing to leave when Ella asked her to stay the night and open presents with them in the morning. She wouldn't take no for an answer.  
  
Randy internally groaned. He didn't know how much longer he could go without either blowing up at Ali or kissing her. He was only putting up with this because his mother expected him to.  
  
"Randy, Ali please do the dishes for your mother," Bob told his son and the girl he knew that his son still was interested in.  
  
Rand knew no matter how polite it sounded it was still an order, and he knew his father could still cook his butt if he felt the need.  
  
Ali ended up washing and Randy drying and putting away. Randy wished his parents would have put in a dishwasher. He wouldn't have to do whatever he could to refrain from speaking to her. He knew if he did then he would hurl the insults that where on the tip of his tongue.  
  
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"Dad what on earth are you doing?" Leigh asked. "They're going to kill each other."  
  
"I think they still are interested in one another," Bob told his daughter. "They just need a shove or two in the right direction.  
  
"I hope you're right," Leigh said. Otherwise tomorrow's going to be one long day, she mentally added.  
  
It's chapter one. You've read now please, please review. 


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: As always I'm not Vince McMahon so I pretty much own nothing. I did create Alyssandra (Ali) Collins and the other characters you don't recognize. I make no anything out if this. If I did I wouldn't be posting it here.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Two  
  
"Dad what are you going to do to shove those two together?" Leigh asked after Randy and Ali went to bed.  
  
"Just encouraging and every now and then forcing them to spend time with each other and eventually it will cause them to snap and at each other and put whatever issues they have behind them," Bob told his daughter.  
  
Leigh kind of liked the plan. She knew Randy would go on a war path if he ever found out she had been encouraging their father's attempts to reconcile his and Ali's relationship.  
  
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Randy reflected on he day's events. Honestly all and all Christmas Eve dinner hadn't been to terrible despite Ali's presence. Alyssandra, he reminded himself. They weren't friends anymore, and he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell to get it back either.  
  
He was kind of upset about that. They had been friends long before they dated. He asked her out the first time because everyone expected him to, but kept going out with her because he wanted to.   
  
"You don't need her," he muttered under his breath. He had to keep telling himself that. He knew it was true, they weren't friends. He'd gone years without her presence.  
  
Ali lay awake just down the hall from Randy, who was sleeping in his childhood room. She remembered so many happy times, until he ripped her heart out.  
  
She stopped that thought. What if Leigh had been right? What if Randy had pushed Kate away two seconds after she saw the pair? If, and it was still a big if in her mind, that were the case then she would have hated him for ten years over pretty much nothing. Or Leigh could be protecting her know-it-all, cocky, arrogant brother. She'd seen Leigh do it before, and there was no guarantee she wasn't doing it again.  
  
Ali tried to push the thoughts out of her head. The past had happened and she didn't need him. She'd lived without any trace of his presence for six years. Unfortunately it was easier to say than to believe.  
  
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The next morning everyone was up early to open presents. Randy felt bad that he hadn't gotten Ali a Christmas present. Damn it he did it again. She wasn't his friend why couldn't he get through his thick head.  
  
Leigh could sense that her twin was facing a severe mental conflict, and she could only guess that Ali was the source of that conflict. She knew him so much better than anyone gave him credit for. Leigh, being a perceptive woman also noticed the conflict in her new friends eyes. She assumed what she said yesterday shattered his mind. Leigh knew if the roles were reversed it would have shattered his mind.  
  
Bob saw two people who cared about each other but were both afraid of the others reaction to admit it. He was even more determined to push the youngsters together. He knew in the long run he was doing them a both a big favor.  
  
Christmas was a big bundle of excitement seeing as Christmas always brought out the Orton family's inner child.  
  
Ali was thrilled to be with a family for the holidays. She never would have made it through the season alone. Even being around Randy had been tolerable. She wasn't going to say good because every time she looked at him memories, generally painful memories, came back, but it wasn't as bad now because the worst memories had already come back.  
  
The day was getting better for Randy who was in the process of being severely scolded by Leigh for spoiling his niece to much. He knew dad was going to get it next.  
  
"Randy Keith Orton are you listening to me?" Leigh asked. She was trying to be angry with him but it wasn't really working.  
  
"Leigh don't get upset," Randy said, "it is after all my job to spoil her. I don't get to see her enough."  
  
"Fine, I wasn't really that upset," Leigh said half sarcastically.  
  
Ali had been invited to say for dinner tonight also. Ella, Randy's mom, insisted that she couldn't go home until the day was over.  
  
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There you go. It's another chapter, anyhow you've read now and please, please review 


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I'm not a McMahon, meaning I own nothing except the characters that I made up.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Randy was almost relieved when Ali left that night. He was so on edge trying to hold his tongue and be the gentleman his parent's raised and expected him to be.  
  
He cursed himself again. If he only would have told his parents then he wouldn't be in the situation that he was. The last few days had been so embarrassing and he could have saved himself. The only way he could have offended Ali any more was to open his big mouth.  
  
"I'm proud of you," Leigh told her brother, "You had every opportunity to hold your and Ali's past against her, but you didn't. It proved how much you've matured the last six years."  
  
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Ali went into her apartment and checked her answering machine. Some sales people, a couple cousins calling to make sure she's made it through the holidays, and a few friends doing the same.   
  
She decided against calling any of them back. She was exhausted. She fell in the door and just about fell asleep when she walked in. She couldn't believe she'd spent a full thirty six hours with Randy and they had been civil. They weren't anywhere near pleasant, but for them civil was a hundred percent improvement from before.  
  
She didn't have much time to give it more thought before she fell asleep. She was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.  
  
When she woke up the next morning she was slightly annoyed. She had the habit of dreaming about what she thought about last before falling asleep, and the previous evening it had been Randy. Randy had been a frequent visitor in her dreams during high school, and still occasionally visited them since. In the night's dream including him had been pleasant for the first time in almost ten years.  
  
Why couldn't she get him out of her head? Thirty six hours of civility couldn't replace nearly four years of cruelty and nearly six of being ignored by a person she thought cared about her. She considered taking her recent interest in him as a sign.  
  
Ali couldn't bring herself to talk to him. She wasn't ready to face the charm he had or the arrogance he had for that matter depending on his mood. One day he could charm someone into doing anything, the next his arrogance could make the same person sick. It was always a balancing act with him.  
  
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Randy woke up feeling some what refreshed. He went to take a shower then he realized that tomorrow he had to catch a flight down to Texas and start working again.  
  
He reminded himself not to tell the guys about the Ali situation. She wasn't interested him so it didn't matter what they thought. They would only try to set he and Ali up like his parents did.  
  
The more he thought about it the more he didn't want to go back. It was weird how one meeting with his ex-girlfriend and one time best friend could make him so uneasy about his friends all having relationships. Paul and Dave were both in loving relationships and he had nothing. That reminded him to call Paul and see how the Christmas surprise went.  
  
"Did she say yes?" Randy asked after Paul answered his phone.  
  
"What else would she say? Of course she said yes?" Paul told his friend.  
  
"Well then congrats. I'll see you tomorrow," Randy replied.  
  
"Did whoever you parents set you up with work out?" Paul asked.  
  
"Don't even go there. Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Even though he should have been happy for his friend and part of him was, he felt worse. He really did feel like he had no one. He began to wonder what had brought that on. Things have pretty much been the same since the beginning of Evolution.  
  
"Uncle Randy, will you play tea party with me?" Lizzie asked sweetly.  
  
"Of course," Randy said happy for the distraction.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bob called Ric. If anyone could get out of Randy what went wrong between Randy and Ali Ric could. Bob filled his friend in on the recent events, and Ric agreed to do what he could to help.  
  
Bob and Ric both knew they had a difficult road ahead. Both youngsters had a stubborn and private streak, that was most likely why the still had all these issues.  
  
Ric proceeded to fill Paul and Dave in on the situation and of course wanting to see Randy happy it was Evolutions new project.  
  
Bob then reminded his wife to invite Ali to the New Years party the family was hosting. He would help his stubborn son and Ali work out their problems or give himself a heart attack trying.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ali screamed when she got home from work that day. She'd felt the need to do that all day and for the first time was able to. She hated her stupid boss, and her desk job. Most of all though she hated Randy. Thoughts of him distracted her all day, only making her boss more unbearable.  
  
She needed to know why all of the sudden he was on her mind all the time again. Shortly after high school graduation she banished all thoughts of him to the back of her mind where she thought, and hoped, they would remain buried for ever.  
  
She returned calls to her family and friends reassuring them that she had made it through the holidays and New Years would be a breeze. She didn't tell them she spend Christmas at the Ortons' it only would have worried people. She didn't think she could deal with that on top of everything else.  
  
Ali decided to splurge and order in Chinese for dinner that night. She didn't feel up to the task of cooking. Knowing how distracted she'd been she'd probably burn her apartment down if she tried. She didn't' need that with everything else.  
  
That's when the phone rang.  
  
"Hello," Ali answered hoping she didn't sound as stressed as she was feeling.  
  
"Hey Ali it's me," Leigh said. "We're having a New Years party and your invited, Mom meant to invite you earlier."  
  
"Leigh I can't," Ali said trying to think of a reason that Leigh would believe.  
  
"Ali try telling my mom that. I'm going to have some people our age over and we'll be downstairs away from the boring older people."  
  
Ali thought there was something Leigh wasn't telling her, most likely it was about Randy, but she knew how persistent the Orton family was. It was either say yes or have them badger her until she said yes. "Fine."  
  
"Good. It starts at 7:30. I'll tell mom your coming."  
  
"Okay, Leigh talk to you later."  
  
"Bye Ali."  
  
Ali silently cursed the Orton family. The were to damned persistent for their own good. She cursed Randy even more for never telling his family what happened. It only confirmed that Leigh was twisting the facts to help her brother.  
  
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Look you've read now please, pretty please review. I like reviews. 


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize doesn't belong to me.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Randy stepped off the plane and headed over to get his luggage when he noticed the other three members of Evolution waiting presumably for him. It wasn't everyday that happened.  
  
"What's the occasion?" Randy asked though he doubted he'd get an honest answer.  
  
"Nothing, our flights just got in a little bit ago," the gruff voice of Dave Batista said.  
  
Randy looked at them for a moment before deciding to let it go. Whatever it was they weren't telling him, but it did make him curious.  
  
"How was your vacation?" Ric asked. Randy was again confused. Ric and his father were pretty good friends, so why didn't he already know about how the vacation went?  
  
"Fine," Randy said hoping that they would drop it.  
  
"No mystery woman?" Dave asked with a smirk.  
  
"Don't even go there," Randy said. "Just because my mother wants me off the market that doesn't mean anything."  
  
"Was she pretty," Paul asked ignoring his comments.  
  
"Yes," Randy reluctantly admitted. Ali wasn't pretty in a Trish Stratus way but she was gorgeous.  
  
"Then it couldn't have been that bad," Ric probed. "Or was it that good?"  
  
"God are your guys' minds always in the gutter. I'm not continuing this conversation," Randy said casing the other men to laugh.  
  
"Did Shayna say yes?" Dave asked Paul thinking it was time to change the subject.  
  
"Yeah, Steph was happy for us and everything. Look at this cute picture of Paige," he said grabbing a picture out of his carry on.  
  
"You survived the infamous Hardy duo and their friends," Randy told Dave.  
  
"They're like munchkins," Dave said laughing. "Everyone except sometimes Matt was pretty cool, probably on Syd's orders."  
  
It only took Dave a moment to spot his girlfriend. "That was the other reason I waited," Dave commented.  
  
Randy again felt that he should be happy for is friend but instead was found himself bordering on jealous. He wanted a relationship like that.  
  
"Randy how was your Christmas?" Sydney asked.  
  
"Why does everyone have to ask?" Randy asked frustrated. He didn't mean to take it out on his friends but he was about to scream.  
  
"Sorry," Syd said, "it was an innocent question."  
  
"I know it's just my parents," Randy said. He hoped that would be enough.  
  
"I understand," Syd said remembering her own problems with her parents.  
  
The five friends made their way from the airport towards the arena. His four companions noticed that Randy was unusually quiet during the trip. Three of them wondered if it was about Ali, but they couldn't ask.  
  
Once they got to the arena they were their usual stylin' and profilin' selves. The were almost as cocky backstage as they were on screen. It kept people out even though it unfortunately made a lot of people hate them.  
  
Randy sat on the comfy leather couch trying to rid him mind of thoughts of Ali, unfortunately he was having about as much luck as he had when he wasn't trying. There was nothing he could do to got the woman out of his mind.  
  
"What's wrong kid?" Ric asked.  
  
"Nothing just trying to recover from break," Randy said.  
  
Ric didn't believe him, but he wasn't going to press for information at the moment.  
  
"The only woman in your life is Lizzie, how could she have worn you, the legend killer, out?" Paul smirked. "Unless it was our illusive mystery woman."  
  
"Hey you know how hard it is to keep a three year old entertained so don't even thing about dissing me," Randy shot back a bit more sourly than he intended.  
  
"And I'm six years older than you, but I'm not complaining about recovering," Paul said ignoring the sourness in his friends voice.  
  
"So it is about the girl," Ric asked.  
  
"The girl doesn't like me so it doesn't' matter," Randy said giving them more information than he wanted to.  
  
"Can we at least have a name to refer to her as?" Sydney asked. She didn't know exactly what them men were planning but she was getting sick of not having a name to refer to her as.  
  
"Her name's Ali," Randy revealed. "There's going to be a New Years party at my house you guys are invited."  
  
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Tuesday Ali was glad she had two days off, not that he boss wanted anyone to have off. He just didn't want to pay holiday pay.  
  
"Ms. Collins you work this week has been absolutely unacceptable. If you don't shape up by Friday then don't even bother coming in," her boss said being his typical self.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, my work will be better Friday," Ali told him. Coddling his ego was usually the best way to handle him.  
  
"Good," he grunted. Ali swore she heard him mutter something vulgar under his breath as she was leaving.  
  
Ali wasn't in any better mood when she got home. It was drawing near the first anniversary of her parents death, and she was almost positive she would have to deal with Randy the next night at the party.  
  
Her phone rang. It was Leigh. Leigh seemed to believe Ali needed some wonderful new outfit for the next night's party. Leigh, much like her brother, always got her way, though Ali knew she didn't have enough money for a new outfit at the moment.  
  
Leigh whisked her off to the mall before Ali knew what was happening. Leigh was one of the best bargain hunters Ali knew. If anyone could find and awesome outfit cheap it was Leigh. Ali still wasn't thrilled about being dragged from store to store, but Leigh managed to make it entertaining. Ali got the perfect or nearly perfect outfit for the party.  
  
When Ali got home she began to question her motives for want the new outfit. She knew she didn't want to impress him, but there was part of her wanted him to see her there. Maybe she'd impress some other guy just to spite him. 


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you are familiar with  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Five  
  
The moment Randy entered the house he was attacked by his sister. She was saying something about having to look nice for the party tonight. He couldn't think fast enough to comprehend what else she was saying.  
  
"Leigh, sweetie, let your brother get something to eat at least before you start with him," Ella gently told her daughter.  
  
Randy made a mental note to thank his mother later. Until then he headed for the kitchen wondering what kind of good things there were in there.  
  
When he finished eating he was again attacked by his sister. She was again talking about looking special. "Leigh let me sleep a couple hours ," Randy said noticing it was only about noon.  
  
"Fine," Leigh relented for the moment.  
  
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About 2:00 Ali got showered and dressed, grabbed her new clothes for the night and some other stuff then headed over to the Orton's. She was almost positive from the way Leigh was acting the night before that she would want to help Ali get ready.  
  
She rang the bell at the Orton's and heard all kinds of movement. It was about 2:45 and she figured they were already starting to get ready.  
  
"Ali I was about to call you," Leigh said smiling. Making them both look stunning would be the easy part, keeping them from knowing the other is there would be more difficult.  
  
"Go up to my room. I'll be there in a minute," Leigh told Ali. When Ali left Leigh turned to her father. "When Randy gets up I'll need help," she told him.  
  
"That's fine send him down here when you need to I'll have something for him to do," Bob told her.  
  
Leigh quickly went upstairs incase her brother was already up. She knew the moment Ali saw him she would refuse to go to the party, then he would refuse to go so she would be able to go.  
  
About 3:30 Leigh woke her brother up. She swore he could sleep through a tornado. "Go help dad."  
  
Randy did as she directed because sometimes it was easier to let her believe she was in charge, than to protest to much. "I'll call you when it's time to get ready, and help you find something to wear."  
  
"Leigh I'm almost twenty four years old. I can get ready myself," Randy protested.  
  
"Fine," Leigh said. "You can pick your clothes but they have to be okayed by me."  
  
Randy knew that was the best he was going to get. Leigh was more bossy then he was most of the time.  
  
"Good now go," Leigh said when he didn't protest anymore. She needed him out of the area so that she could take Ali in the bathroom the siblings shared.  
  
Randy spent the next hour and a half decorating the basement. He didn't really want to but he did.  
  
Leigh on the other hand was helping Ali get ready. The day before they'd chose a nice fitted pair of black dress pants and a pale pink stripped button up shirt that showed off her curves. Leigh told her to leave the top two and the bottom buttons undone so she looked sexy but still dressed up. After playing with her hair and make up for a little bit she found the perfect look for her friend.  
  
"I still don't understand why you want me to dress up," Ali told her friend. She had a feeling it was for a certain someone but her friend would neither confirm nor deny.  
  
"There will be good looking people there. You want to snag someone's attention don't you?" Leigh asked.  
  
"Not as much as you want me to," Ali muttered.  
  
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"Randy upstairs," Leigh ordered. "You can pick clothes while I'm in the shower. She could only hope that Ali was safely inside her room when they went upstairs.  
  
Leigh got in and out of the shower and dressed quickly. "What'd you pick?"  
  
There were a few slightly miss matched outfits laying across Randy's bed. Leigh had to admit that none of them where as bad as they could have been, but he still needed a little help. "This shirt and those pants," She said pointing to a dark green shirt and black dress pants. "After I get through, you need to take a shower you stink."  
  
"Thanks sis," Randy said purposely engulfing her in a big hug.  
  
"Gross Leigh said leaving the room. Randy just laughed at her.  
  
Leigh got back to her room and had to think of a reason the shower would be running just incase Ali asked. Fortunately Ali was very caught up in watching Sponge Bob reruns.  
  
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Randy took his shower, got dressed, shaved, put a little gel in his hair and put some cologne on. Then he stopped to admire himself in the mirror for a minute. He still had forever before the party started, so he flopped down on his bed and turned on the TV. The only semi interesting thing he could fine was sponge bob.  
  
Finally he could go downstairs and people would be there soon.  
  
"Come on," Leigh said. "People are going to start coming soon. Let's go downstairs. I just have to grab one quick thing, I'll meet you down there."  
  
Leigh went and knocked on her brother's door, when she didn't get an answer she went in to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep again. He wasn't there  
  
Ali walked into the family room where she expected the older people would be. She saw Bob and Ella as she expected, and much to her discontentment Randy. She couldn't believe Leigh let her think he wasn't coming.  
  
Leigh didn't let you believe he wasn't coming, she told her self. You let you believe she wasn't coming even though this was a family event.  
  
Randy didn't know what to think when her saw her. He'd been hoping for only two things for this party. That Ali wouldn't be there and someone who could take his mind off her would be even if it was only to be for the night. It looked like neither was going to happen.  
  
"You look nice," Randy offered. He want to start things out pleasant maybe it would make things less tense later, if that were possible.  
  
"You don't clean up bad yourself," Ali said. Just because he looked good doesn't mean he isn't an arrogant ass, she told the little voice that was popping in her head. She was just trying to be pleasant.  
  
Before the two had more time to engage in conversation the door bell rang. "I'll get it," Ali, Leigh, and Randy all said like they were children again.  
  
Randy being the tallest got there first and opened the door to reveal Dave and Sydney.  
  
"Ouch," Ali said running into Randy. "Sorry."  
  
"Dave, Syd," Leigh said excitedly.  
  
"Dave, Syd this is Ali, Ali, Syd and Dave," Randy said seeing as Leigh seemed to momentarily forget her manors.  
  
"I'm sorry you have to put up with his arrogant ass almost every day," Ali said. When Dave realized she meant it he had to smirk.  
  
More conversation was cut off for the moment because more and more guests began to arrive. 


	6. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: You know and I know that Vince McMahon owns all the wrestlers. I however did create the original characters.  
  
AN: Updates will probably be slowing down soon as school is starting again and such.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Ali had to admit it hadn't been as bad as she initially thought having to attend the same party as Randy, stills she couldn't help going out of her way to stay out of his.  
  
"Randy wasn't wrong about Ali hating him," Dave observed.  
  
"Still there's only a fine line between love and hate," Paul said (AN: I'm so sorry that, that was so corny, I just couldn't help it.)  
  
"What are you planning," Shayna demanded seeing the all to familiar look in her fiancée's eyes.  
  
"We, well more or less Bob, Ric and Leigh think that Randy and Ali would be good together. Unfortunately for reasons Leigh refuses to disclose they really hate each other. Or so they think," Dave said.  
  
"Anyhow we want them to hash out their differences only not tonight," Paul said. "They maybe the won't be afraid to show what they really feel."  
  
Shayna didn't know what to think. There were two old men meddling in something they didn't belong, albeit for a good cause. She'd noticed the chemistry between the two even thought they were both avoiding each other like the plague.  
  
"I have to think they're right. I only saw the two interact briefly, but even though she insulted him, she said sorry like she meant it when she ran into him," Sydney reassured her friend. She'd been thinking the same thoughts mere hours ago when Dave told her what was going on before they arrived.  
  
Shayna briefly turned her attention to the two people in question and had to admit they would make a striking couple, though she hadn't really seen them interact and that was something essential to deciding if it was worth it. "You know that he's going to kill you if he ever catches wind of this," Shayna warned. She couldn't help warming to the idea.  
  
"He'll thank us later," Paul said.  
  
A few hours passed and once Randy got and Ali got a few drinks in them Leigh was afraid the fireworks would start. She loved them both dearly but she didn't want them airing their dirty laundry in front of all their friends, even if only close friends had been invited.  
  
What worried her was that they were no longer avoiding each other. They didn't have enough alcohol to make them totally unaware of everything, just enough so they didn't have any inhibitions.  
  
"I hate to ask you guys of this but could you guys try to help me keep the volatile two away from each other. They seem to have forgotten the truce they made this evening when both deciding to attend," Leigh said.  
  
"Yeah, we can try, you know who pig headed your brother can be. If he wants to confront her then he will," Paul said. He was really going to try only for the sake of the twenty or so other people that were in the room.  
  
It was unfortunately to late. Randy had bumped into Ali (he kept claiming it was the other way around) knocking her drink out of her hand. "You stupid idiot," Ali said furiously. "Is your head stuck so far up your ass that you can't see where you're going? That might be something that you want to correct."  
  
"I wasn't the one what ran into you. You ran into me and spilled your drink," Randy said. Leigh just hung her head down. She didn't want to hear this.  
  
"Oh I forgot you're God's gift to everyone. You can't do any wrong," Ali said sarcastically.  
  
"At least I'm not the worlds biggest bitch," Randy shot back. He wasn't even thinking at this point, just saying the first thing that came to mind that could hurt her.  
  
"No your just he world's biggest playboy," Ali said. "You wouldn't last a day in the real world."  
  
"Oh, at least I'm doing something I love and I can admit that I'm wrong," Randy said. "I'm not the one that is holding something you supposedly did almost ten years ago against you."  
  
Leigh knew exactly where this was going and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She'd been hoping on a much more civilized and private setting for this conversation. "I'm going to get my dad," Leigh said turning to go upstairs. He was the only one that Randy might listen to when he was like this.  
  
"Don't even start it you arrogant, pompous asshole," Ali said. "You weren't the one that got hurt so you don't have any right to tell me that I should forgive and forget. You had your chance to explain and I chose to not to believe your bullshit explanation."  
  
"And you wonder why everyone you've encountered in the city thinks you're a bitch," Randy said. "You are so bitter that you won't let anyone close to you."  
  
"You know what I don't even know why we were friends in the first place. I must have been to young and naive to know the difference between someone being nice to me out of pity and someone who wanted to know the real me," Ali said. That was the first time she noticed hurt flash through his eyes. They'd traded so many insults and humiliating practical jokes through the years, but never once did he show any emotion aside from anger and the desire for vengeance. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He'd never brought the friendship they'd had before into what was going on currently between the two, neither had she for that matter. Before it had been almost sacred territory that neither wanted to mar with hate and now she'd done that.  
  
"Randy Keith Orton, Alyssandra Elaine Collins, what do you two think that you're doing?" Bob demanded. He could hear the two upstairs far before he could see them.  
  
Ali immediately felt worse. Bob and Ella had been so kind to her and she couldn't even manage to hold her temper for one night. If it were possible it was she noticed that Randy appeared to feel almost as bad as she did. He must not have liked the situation any more than she did.  
  
"Look I'm sorry for running into you, I'm going to go upstairs now. Goodnight," Randy said knowing that this was eventually all going to be blamed on him, so he might as well apologize and let Ali continue to enjoy the party. He did owe her at least that for being pleasant to him earlier.  
  
"No it's your party, I'll go," Ali said. She didn't want to kick him out of his own party when it was her that started all the fuss.  
  
"Or," Leigh suggested quietly, "you could go outside and discuss whatever you have to privately then come back when you don't want to kill each other."  
  
"No I'll just grab my stuff and leave," Ali said. She most certainly didn't want to spend time alone with him. The guilt she felt might weaken her to believing his story of events rather than what she had witnessed with her own two eyes.   
  
Before Randy could protest Ali was already making her way out of the room and there was nothing he could do about it. He knew it was her that should have stayed not him. He'd made it his mission in high school to deny her of a social life, now he just couldn't do it.  
  
"We're going to talk about this tomorrow," Bob told his son quietly.  
  
"Yes sir," Randy said knowing there was no room for argument, not that there ever was with his father. That was probably the one thing that kept him grounded.  
  
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There you go. You've read now all you have to do is review. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing familiar to you.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Randy woke up the next morning dreading talking to his father. He already felt bad for the things he said the previous night, and Bob was only going to make him fell worse. 'I probably deserve it,' Randy told himself.  
  
"Randy Keith Orton," Bob started when his son stepped foot in his office. "what on earth were you thinking?"  
  
Randy knew he was in for it. He was never called by his full name unless he was in really deep trouble. He almost laughed at himself for thinking like a teenager who go caught coming in way past curfew when he was old enough to fend for himself. "I don't know," Randy answered. He didn't remember thinking a lot.  
  
"That's obvious. What possessed you to treat someone that you were so close to and a guest like that? There is no excuse."  
  
"I don't know," Randy again said. He would have liked for his dad to yell. When he was so upset that he was really calm was when he was really scary.  
  
"Then what do you know?"  
  
"That I apologized for running into her," Randy said.  
  
"But why do you two hate each other so much that you could say such hurtful things without remorse?"  
  
"That is our business not yours," Randy said defensively. Somehow everything from their past was going to be blamed on him, so he didn't want to get into it.  
  
"Anyhow, I want you to go over and apologize for the cruel, hurtful things you said," Bob demanded. "And don't ever let me see you treat any guest that way."  
  
Randy got up. If he had to apologized then he figured he might as well do it right. He showered, got dressed, called a takeout place, then went to get flowers and chocolate before going to pick up the food.  
  
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Ali woke up kind of early, she wanted to get some things typed up for work so she'd be caught up the next day. Maybe then her boss would at least not be upset with her.  
  
She was so engrossed in her what she was doing she almost missed the knock on the door. She wasn't sure how late it was but she noticed her stomach rumble.  
  
She opened the door, still in her pajamas, and found Randy out side with his arms full of stuff. She felt so embarrassed. "What do you want?"  
  
"Can I come in?" Randy asked. He hoped that answer would be yes.  
  
"Do I have a choice?" Ali asked letting him in. "You can put that in the kitchen. I'm going to go get dressed.  
  
Randy didn't mind seeing her in the tank top and pajama bottoms, but he was just here to bring breakfast and apologize. He didn't think that mentioning she looked fine in her pajamas would help him out much.  
  
"I just wanted to apologize for my behavior last night," Randy said when he saw her. "I brought some food and these are for you."  
  
'Damn it,' Ali thought. She didn't want him to be charming, it would be to easy to let him walk all over her again, 'But I did have say just as cruel things, if not more so than him,' she reminded herself. "I said some things that I probably shouldn't have, too," Ali admitted before again cursing herself for giving in.  
  
She had to admit the flowers were beautiful. He remembered her favorites were daisies. 'Stop it,' she told herself. 'He's probably doing this because he had to.'  
  
"Mind if I stay?" Randy asked. "I got enough food for both of us."  
  
She couldn't resist him when he was being like this. "Yeah sure," she said smiling.  
  
They actually ate in relative silence. They weren't sure exactly what to say to each other. Eventually Randy had to ask, "Why didn't you trust me when I told you what happened with Kate?"  
  
"I saw you kissing her, what was I supposed to think?" Ali asked. "You would have been the same way if the roles were reversed."  
  
"So you made the decision that I was lying to you because of something that you didn't see all of? If you would have seen all of it. She came up to me, kissed me, I was shocked then pushed her away and when to look for you. I wanted you to hear it from me not anyone else," Randy told her. He didn't know why he was starting this now, maybe it was because he wanted his friend back. "And had the roles been reversed I would have believed you and killed him."  
  
"You can say that now. We're a lot more mature than we were ten years ago," Ali said, "well usually."  
  
"True," Randy said. "You know that you not believing me hurt me more than anything else that you ever did to me even last night when you doubted that I ever wanted to be your friend."  
  
He was amazed that they could sit down and actually talk to each other, not only civilly but pleasantly. If he would have known just apologizing would have this kind of results he would have tried it long ago. Well not to long ago, but way before now.  
  
"I guess I got the desired effect without even knowing it," Ali said. "At first I wanted you to hurt as much as I did. I don't know why I kept going with our stupid feud."  
  
"Me either. It was pretty stupid, it made high school miserable," Randy admitted. He couldn't believe they were talking like old friends.  
  
Ali was mentally scolding herself to no end for admitting these things, but there was something that was telling her that maybe this would help them put the past behind them. She was taken aback by him admitting high school was miserable for him. "You Mr. Jock who had every girl hanging on your every move had a miserable high school experience," Ali said smirking, much like he frequently did.  
  
"I should never have taught you how to smirk," Randy commented. "I didn't want all those girls hanging all over me. It was a pain to live up to the reputation that came with it. Besides the one girl I cared about hated me."  
  
'That was stupid,' Randy told himself right after that came out. No she would retreat and there wouldn't be anything the could do about it.  
  
"You better go, I have a lot of things to get finished," Ali said starting to clear off the table.  
  
"Okay, would you like to go out to dinner sometime and we can catch up?" Randy asked. He was thinking about asking for Saturday but he had to work.  
  
"Maybe I'll call you," Ali said. Part of her was thrilled that she was getting her best friend back, but there was the other part of her that warned her against getting sucked back into the vortex that was him. "Thank you for the food, and everything."  
  
"You're welcome," Randy said leaving.  
  
"Leigh," Randy called when he got home. He wanted to get Ali's number just incase she decided to not call him back. He'd just ask again and again, eventually she'd say yes if for no other reason than to make him stop asking.  
  
"Yeah," Leigh said coming downstairs. She heard what Dad had made him do and she was surprised to see him still in one piece.  
  
"I need Ali's number, I asked her to go to dinner with me to catch up and she said she'd get back to me," Randy told her.  
  
"And you don't want her to blow you off," Leigh said handing him a piece of paper. "I take it the apology went well."  
  
"Yeah we talked for a while and I took her breakfast and flowers," Randy said. "And we're both still alive and sane. Miracles do happen."  
  
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There you go you've read now please review. Reviews are like food especially when things get busy. 


	8. Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: As always I don't own anything.  
  
AN: I know I don't say this enough. Thank you to all my reviewers, I sometimes forget that since I never get any questions.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
When Randy returned to Raw a few days later his friends noticed that he was a much happier man, only none of them could figure out why. They could only assume that it had something to do with Ali.  
  
"Uncle Randy look," Lizzie said running to him with a giant teddy bear in her arms. "Look what Daddy got me."  
  
Randy picked up the little girl knowing that Dave and Sydney were probably looking for her. "We're going to find your daddy."  
  
"Let me down," she giggled wiggling.  
  
Randy took the little girl and swung her up on his shoulders, hoping to stop him from wiggling at least most of the way. "Look who I see," he told her putting her down.  
  
"Syd," Lizzie said running toward the woman. "Where were you?"  
  
"You missy were the one that ran off," Sydney said trying not to laugh. Randy on the other hand was laughing pretty hard.  
  
"You look a lot happier," Paul said observing the scene in front of him.  
  
"Yep," Randy said.  
  
The night was interesting. The other members of Evolution were trying to find out what was making their youngest member so happy, unfortunately for them Randy wasn't spilling anything, in fact he was watching and laughing at all the theories that the other men, and occasionally Sydney were coming up with.  
  
When Randy got back to his hotel room he realized that Ali had yet to get back to him. He found the paper the Leigh had written her number on and paused a moment before dialing the number. He did feel a little guilty since he hadn't gotten the number from her but it didn't last to long.  
  
The phone rang, and rang. Randy eventually got her answering machine. He couldn't help but to smile when he heard her voice even when it was just recorded.  
  
"Ali it's me Randy. You said you'd get back to me, but I guess I got to you first. I just wanted to know when we could get together. I'm not giving up that easily. Talk to you later," he said leaving his cell number so she wouldn't have to get it from Leigh.  
  
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Ali was miserable, she'd gotten fired Friday and now she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. The only thing that she was thrilled about was that she had more time to write. It was something she'd been doing since she'd started middle school.  
  
She heard her phone ring and didn't want to deal with anyone so she let the answering machine get it. She'd been doing that all weekend and so far today, maybe tomorrow would be better. She heard Randy's voice and was temped to pick up the phone but resisted it. She didn't really w ant to talk to anyone at the moment, especially him. He would be able to convince her of anything right now and she didn't need that.  
  
The only question she had was how he got her number. She didn't have to think about it very long. It only took a few seconds until she realized all he would have to do is ask and Leigh or their parents and they would give it to him in an instant.  
  
She turned her attention back to her computer and the task that was at hand. She was writing fan fiction at the moment, but her writing always varied, unfortunately for the last few days her Randy muse, the one that she never really realized she had, had kicked into full gear. She was now writing almost nonstop, and hearing Randy's voice had only made her muse work that much harder.  
  
'Why don't you go out with him and catch up?' the little voice kicked in a few minutes later. She had a simple answer. He would just walk all over her again and leave her heartbroken again.  
  
The one thing that didn't factor in was his apology. Even if he had to apologize he could have came over said he was sorry then left not brought her yummy chocolates, flowers and breakfast. It totally contradicted what she'd been telling herself so much about him not caring.  
  
She hadn't told anyone that she lost her job. She'd spent all day looking and it seemed like the only places that were looking were fast food places and an assortment of dingy offices and diners that she wasn't sure it would be safe to work at.  
  
Tucking her hair behind her ear she finished her chapter before going to bed. She was going to again look for another job in the morning, hoping to have more success than she had today.  
  
She changed into the Evolution tee-shirt (Leigh decided that it would be quite funny to get her it for Christmas.) and a pair of shorts and plopped down on her bed. She didn't know what she was doing wearing the shirt that she privately told Leigh she was going to burn. Now she was wearing it a lot, not that she was really concerned about it.  
  
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The next morning Randy woke up in another hotel room remembering the dreams he'd had the previous night about Ali. He found if he just let himself think about he and not worry about it he would actually get some sleep and be able to function relatively normal, which might be a first like ever for him.  
  
Randy was thrilled that he didn't have to share a room with anyone. Usually Sydney wasn't traveling with them so he normally roomed with Dave. He hated sharing a room, probably cause he never had to when he was a child.  
  
He got to take his time getting ready since they had another show here tonight. 'I never realized the things I take for granted,' Randy told himself. He was going to call Ali again this morning even though she as probably at work and wouldn't return his call.  
  
He again got her answering machine and left another message. He went down to the restaurant in the hotel for some food.  
  
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Ali was convinced that here weren't enough places to work in St. Louis. She wasn't finding anything. She wasn't worried about it yet, unlike most people her age she had a lot of money saved up, so even if her parent's house didn't sell soon then she would be okay for at least three months.  
  
Around noon she went back to her apartment, she was exhausted. The previous night was pretty restless. She wasn't sure what had caused the restlessness, but somehow it didn't seem to be leaving. She couldn't think about being still at the moment.  
  
As always she absently checked her answering machine just waiting to hear some important voice. She listened. There were a lot of telemarketers, and then she heard the voice that had been racing through her head so many times the last week and a half. Randy had called her again. She debated calling him back but decided against it. She didn't want to fall in to deep with him again.  
  
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So there you go. Sorry if this chapter wasn't as good as the other ones. Please review. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: If I actually owned any of this stuff do you think I would be posting it here not making my non-existent millions? Excactly.  
  
A/N: Sorry this might be a bit strange but it's a lot of   
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
It was again Monday night and despite the job interview she had at eight thirty the next morning Ali decided to say up and watch Raw. That was one habit that she'd never been able to let go of after the whole messed up situation with Randy.  
  
Waiting for Raw to start she couldn't help but remembering all the times that she, Randy and Leigh would sit around the television on Saturday mornings watching wrestling. Those had been the good days, now the three could barely be in the same room together without all hell breaking loose. Sure usually it was only her and Randy that couldn't stand each other, but Leigh wasn't usually any help.  
  
As Raw started she couldn't believe the hype that Randy was getting. True he was the intercontinental champion, and she would admit that he had talent that if developed correctly would make him great, but did he really deserve all the hype? Of course she would never let him think he deserved all the hype, if they would ever be on speaking terms again, which considering she was avoiding him at the moment might be never.  
  
She was surprised when his match the was main event. Intercontinental title match was usually a big deal but not a main event deal. Despite the fact that she didn't like him she couldn't help root for him in his match, maybe it was the fact that she was one of the odd people that didn't like RVD, it was to easy to root for the good guys.  
  
She had a new respect for Randy on a professional level and couldn't help but feeling the desire to call him and make sure he was okay even though everything was probably scripted. She tried to fight the urge to call him but about 10:30 (St. Louis time), she couldn't fight the need to make sure that he was alright. She found the piece of paper that she wrote his number on.  
  
"Hello," Randy said groggily.  
  
"Hey," Ali said not really knowing what to say next. She hadn't thought that far ahead.  
  
"Ali," Randy said recognizing her voice after a few seconds. She noticed the surprise in his voice.  
  
"You had a great match tonight," Ali said not able to think of anything else. It would be stupid to tell him that she was worried about him because they both knew how things like that worked.  
  
"Thanks," Randy said. "Did you want to go out sometime to catch up?"  
  
Ali hesitated for a moment. "Okay, when will you be back in town?" she asked before she could stop herself.  
  
"Thursday I think," Randy said.  
  
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Randy couldn't believe that she actually called him back, well yet anyway. He was still a little dazed after the match with RVD that he had. His head wasn't supposed to hit the security wall.  
  
He was even more surprised when Ali agreed to not treat him like he had the plague for at least a little while. He didn't want to get to happy incase it fell through at the last minute like plans he made with anyone tended to do. Unavoidable things always tended to pop up.  
  
"I guess I'll see you soon," Ali said. She hoped that it would be a little further away so if she felt the need to get out of it then she could. "By they way don't hit you head it hurts."  
  
"Yeah I kind of figured that out," Randy said more aware of what was going on. He was pretty out of it when he answered the phone. "I'm fine though. Nothing a few stitches and a little rest won't cure."  
  
"Good, I mean if you were really hurt it wouldn't be nearly as much fun to torment you," Ali said. Randy could only imagine the smirk she had on her face at the moment.  
  
"If I get this kind of reaction maybe I should get banged up more often," Randy said, it was his turn to smirk.  
  
"I have to go," Ali said, "I have to get up way to early in the morning."  
  
"You and me both," Randy said. "Bye."  
  
When he got back to the Evolution locker room to grab his stuff and catch a ride back to the hotel he was again bombarded with questions. It was kind of unsettling having a group of you close friends want to know everything about you're personal live especially when to quote Ric "you're grinning from ear to ear". He again wouldn't tell them, he was almost positive they were up to something that involved him and Ali and that relationship (if you could call it that) was already unstable enough without their interference.  
  
"Guys leave him alone," Sydney finally interfered. She couldn't stand them asking him so many questions when he clearly didn't want to give them any answers. She wasn't sure if he could anyway with the way he'd been acting. He wasn't getting the usual enjoyment out of the theories that they were coming up with. "He's had the match of his career and I'm sure his head hurt more than it ever has in his life."  
  
"Thank you, someone is finally on my side," Randy said almost running into the wall. He was still a little bit disoriented.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Sydney asked. "I mean still being a little disoriented is a sign of a concussion. That was a pretty hard shot into the barrier and you weren't expecting it."  
  
"I will be fine," Randy said. "All I need is some rest and I'll be fine in the morning. I already told you guys that."  
  
"Randy, I've had my share of injuries and she may be right, you might want to have that looked at," Paul said.  
  
"I don't need any more medical attention," Randy insisted. He hated having them watch over him incessantly. It was worse than having his mother around sometimes. Then again his mother would be driving him to the local emergency room right now whether or not he wanted her to.  
  
"I have an idea lets get some food and if you can't hold it down then we take you to make sure you're okay," Ric said wanting the insanity that he was witnessing to end.  
  
"Fine we can get something to eat but I won't go to some stupid hospital," Randy said. He really wanted to go backto the hotel and sleep but right now that possibility looked slim right now.  
  
"Then we'll redirect and go to the emergency room right now," Ric said. He knew Ella would kill him for not taking him to get more medical attention immediately, but some medical attention would be better than none.  
  
"Fine, fine. I'll agree to your terms," Randy reluctantly agreed. He knew that tonight he'd be headed to the emergency room no matter how much he protested.  
  
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Despite what he told her a little while ago, Ali had trouble believing him. Even as a child he'd never admitted how much pain he was in. He'd always try to hide it from everyone. The time he fell out of a tree and almost broke his arm and said it was nothing and begged her and Leigh not to go in and tell her what happened.  
  
She was kind of worried about him, replaying what she saw in her mind she wasn't sure if he was supposed to hit the security wall, not only by his delayed reaction getting up and RVD's hesitation, but by the way he hit. He hit head on not the way he usually would when he ran into something like that.  
  
Unfortunately she had to push that out of her mind so that she would be able to function at her interview tomorrow, considering she still needed a job to keep up with her expenses. Not getting he job tomorrow probably wouldn't be a good thing, seeing as she had looked almost everywhere else in the city. Anyone who was looking almost was some scummy place.  
  
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You've read now all you have to do is review. 


	10. Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: These are as annoying as hell. I don't own anything except the original characters.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
It was Thursday afternoon and Ali was trying to figure out an excuse that Randy would believe so they wouldn't have to go out. There was nothing coming to mind that wasn't totally lame. She couldn't use the excuse she was working because she didn't start until Monday and she'd already told Leigh that one.  
  
When five came around she still hadn't thought of anything, so she decided to start getting ready if she was going to meet him at seven. She didn't want to but if she was going to be in public she wasn't going to make a fool of herself.  
  
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"Leigh help me," Randy called to his sister. She was right; she was always better at stuff relating to clothing than he was.  
  
"What do you want?" Leigh asked coming into his room. She knew he wanted to look nice and he wouldn't tell her why.  
  
"Which shirt?" Randy asked holding up a burgundy shirt and a navy shirt.  
  
Leigh just started laughing. He hadn't asked her help for a long time. He usually complained and whined when she tried to help him get dressed for anything. "Why should I help you?" she asked.  
  
"Because I really need your help," Randy said with puppy dog eyes. He knew she wouldn't be able to resist him if he did that. It always worked like a charm.  
  
"Randy Keith Orton don't you dare try that," Leigh said using all the willpower that she had not to give in and help him. She wanted to know why she was helping him, and whom he was going out with, though she had an idea whom it was because Ali had been complaining yesterday about a date with someone who she refused to name.  
  
"Leigh please," Randy said again.  
  
"Tell me where you're going and who with then I might help you," Leigh told him. She wanted to know and he wasn't going to get away without telling her.  
  
He told her he was going to a nice little Italian restaurant with Ali. He didn't to but he wanted to know which shirt she would look better on him. He wanted to look good, maybe it would make a better impression on her and help things go a little better.  
  
"That's what I thought," Leigh said before suggesting that he wear the navy shirt. She had a big smirk on her face.  
  
"If you already knew what then why didn't you just tell me what to wear?" Randy asked. He was frustrated with her because she was in on whatever everyone else was and it was getting to be rather annoying everyone knowing what he's doing before he does it.  
  
"Because I didn't know for sure, it was just a suspicion," Leigh told him before exiting the room.  
  
Randy went and took a shower before changing and running some gel through his hair so it would stay spiky. He then went to his sister's room to make sure he looked okay. He couldn't believe that he was insecure about this; it wasn't any different than meeting up with any of his old friends and having dinner with them. 'Except you don't like any of your other friends,' the little voice in his head told him, before he could shut it up.  
  
"How do I look?" he asked.  
  
"The infamously cocky and arrogant Randy Orton is getting cold feet," Leigh joked. She was getting a kick out of him being insecure even if it was just a little bit. He'd always had more than his fair share of confidence.  
  
"Shut up and answer my question it's almost time for me to leave," Randy said. He knew his sister was getting enjoyment out of this. She always liked to see him insecure or to see him slip up or anything that might be slightly embarrassing.  
  
"You look fine, but don't forget to put some cologne on," Leigh told him. It was fun frustrating him.  
  
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Ali was finally ready. She'd decided on a black dress and a light purple shawl since it was a chilly evening. Her hair and makeup was as done up as it had been at New Years Eve, but that was because she had a much more subtle hand with makeup than Leigh did sometimes.  
  
She got into her car and drove to the restaurant, all the while giving herself a mental pep talk about never ever doing this again. She didn't know how well it would work when she was actually there (she suspected it wouldn't help much), but it was better than nothing.  
  
She looked around the small restaurant and immediately found the man she was looking for and she admitted he looked rather handsome. She gathered all the confidence she had and walked over to him. She didn't want to look as out of place here as she felt. No one she'd ever gone out with had brought her a place like this. 'Stop it,' she told herself. 'We might be friends but that's it.'  
  
"Hi," he said smiling. The moment she waked in she took his breath away. She was absolutely beautiful, more beautiful than she had been the night of the party. 'Slow down,' he told himself. He had to remember he had to regain her trust before he could do anything. Something he knew wasn't going to be an easy task.  
  
"Hi," she said returning the smile. "I was right you really do clean up nice."  
  
He was a bit taken back. She'd never complimented him without being complimented first, even way back when they were civil to each other. Ali surprised herself when she let that slip.  
  
"I'm not the one who's going to attract attention tonight," Randy admitted. If she could finally put everything behind her then he was going to be as charming to her as he was to any other beautiful woman. She was more beautiful than anyone he'd ever been scene with.  
  
They ordered their drinks and looked at the menu. "So what did you do after graduation?" Randy asked her.  
  
"I went to college for a semester but decided it wasn't for me. I've been bouncing from job to job since," Ali admitted. She'd never been good at lying to anyone especially him. "I heard you entered the marines."  
  
"Yeah," Randy said letting that one drop. "What kind of work are you doing now?"  
  
"I was a receptionist, but the guy was a jerk and we didn't get along," Ali said. "He found some reason to fire me before I could quit. I got a job at a local daycare center now."  
  
"Sounds like my boss sometimes," Randy said. It wasn't that bad seeing as he was male and hanging out with two of the most important people in the business, but for the divas there were times he was sure it was hell on earth.  
  
"Mr. Big Shot has a boss that's an ass that's kind of funny," Ali said.  
  
They caught up some more and ate a rather pleasant meal. They didn't talk much while they ate but the silence wasn't uncomfortable, like most of the other silences between the two had been recently.  
  
"How bad were you really hurt the other day?" Ali finally asked when they were almost finished with dinner.  
  
"I got some stitches and that's it aside from the normal bumps and bruises," Randy reassured her.  
  
Ali was happy that he hadn't said a few because if she could see correctly there were at least half a dozen probably more. "How many?" Ali asked figuring she probably didn't want to know. She'd gotten four stitches before one weekend when Randy's mom was watching her while her parents were out of town.  
  
"Ten," Randy quietly admitted.  
  
"See why you don't hit your head?" Ali asked. "You should have just let me have the stitches long ago and left it be."  
  
"I'm still sorry about pushing you," Randy said remembering the incident when they were six. He'd pushed her and she fell into the corner of the coffee table slicing her head open.  
  
"It wasn't your fault," Ali told him.  
  
They finished up and Randy walked Ali to her car. He wanted to say something but he didn't know what to say, so he followed his first instinct to kiss the woman.  
  
Ali was surprised that he'd kissed her. Part of her wanted to slap him and thought that he'd deserved it, but the other part that was winning out said that it was a good thing. A very good thing.  
  
A moment later when Randy got his hormones under control he backed away. "I'm sorry," he apologized.  
  
"It's okay," Ali told him, "but I really need to go."  
  
Randy watched her leave the parking lot wondering what kind of hole he'd dug himself into this time.  
  
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And the drama builds. You've read now as always please review 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
"I think I just did the most stupid thing in the world," Randy said to no one in particular when he got home. He knew someone would be waiting up to see how it went.  
  
"What did you do now?" Leigh asked remembering the last time he said that he really did do something stupid.  
  
"I kissed Ali," Randy admitted. Leigh just laughed. "It's not funny," Randy protested.  
  
"Did she hit you or push you away?" Leigh asked getting her laughter under control.  
  
"Well no," Randy said.  
  
"Then it couldn't have been that stupid," Leigh told him. "If she didn't do anything to stop you then somewhere deep down inside she wanted you to kiss her."  
  
"Thanks Leigh," Randy said going upstairs with a silly grin on his face, that's when Leigh really knew he really had it bad, and it made her laugh even more.  
  
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Ali couldn't believe what just happened. Not only did Randy kiss her, she let him. What the hell was she thinking? 'It was actually kind of nice,' the little voice in her head said before she could quiet it. She didn't need that working against her too. Now she needed to distance herself from Randy for a while to figure out if he's just messing with her head again or if he's actually interested in her.  
  
She lies down and despite her efforts she couldn't get the kiss out of her mind and it was a relatively innocent kiss. She'd never had a kiss that she hadn't been able to forget about, and it disturbed her that the kiss that could do that had to come from him. 'Randy,' the little voice in her head said, 'his name is Randy.'  
  
She damned the little voice in her head and somehow quelled it before falling asleep.  
  
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The next morning Randy got to sleep in, until he smelled the wonderful smell of his mother's cooking.  
  
"Don't you ever stay at your own house?" Leigh asked her brother. She'd noticed how much time he'd been spending here.  
  
"Leigh stop, he needs all the encouragement he needs to say here." Ella told her daughter.  
  
"Is Ali still coming for dinner tonight?" Bob asked his daughter.  
  
"I don't know maybe you should ask Randy," Leigh teased. Bob gave his son a look. "She hasn't told me she's not," Leigh told him.  
  
"Leigh, be nice to your brother," Ella scolded her daughter.  
  
"Ali and I went out to dinner last night," Randy answered the question his father was going to ask. Even though Bob didn't ask any further questions, Randy knew his father wanted to. Both his parents were more interested in his personal life than he wanted them to be. "How long has Ali been having dinner here?"  
  
"Once a week for about five months," Ella responded nonchalantly.  
  
"Leigh I can't believe you," Randy started, "she's been here that many times and you never once told me."  
  
"You were usually busy Fridays, I asked you to come several times over the last few months but you always made excuses," Leigh said before he could continue his tirade, "if you chose to spend more time here you would have already known that she was becoming friends with the family."  
  
Randy did feel a little bit guilty. When he was in St. Louis which if he was lucky was a day or maybe two a week he was usually making sure things at his place were going okay. The rest of the time he was on the road, either doing shows or promotional work or photo shoots. The work list never seemed to end. "Sorry," he mumbled.  
  
The rest of the day went pretty normally. Randy spent time hanging out with his sister and he called a few of his friends he hadn't seen in a long time, pretty much normal person stuff. It was kind of nice to have normal people stuff to deal with and not have any deadlines to meet. Unfortunately tomorrow he was leaving early for a photo shoot.  
  
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Ali woke up late and remembered that, that this was the night that she was going to have dinner with the Ortons. Part of her was thrilled with the prospect of seeing Randy again, but then there was the other part of her that was trying to figure out exactly what he was playing at or if his actions were just displaying his genuine feelings.  
  
Ali didn't have anything to do this morning, but decided that she should get to the Ortons' early and talk to Randy assuming that he was till there. She had to talk to him to know if she wanted to know if he was really interested in her. She spent more time on her appearance than she had in a while. She couldn't' help but want to look good for him. 'It's for you,' she reminded herself before pulling out a pair of flared blue jeans and a blue and white striped button up shirt.  
  
She then proceeded to get into the shower and do all that good stuff before trying to french braid her hair, which was a task in itself. She eventually succeeded and decided that Ella and Bob wouldn't complain about her spending the afternoon at their house, knowing them they'd encourage it. She was beginning to think of them like another set of parents like she had when she as younger.  
  
Twenty minutes later she was about ready to walk into the Orton house. She had to take a minute to gather her thoughts and nerve. She walked in only to see Randy walking in the hallway toward the steps. "Hey," she said giving him a smile, while taking off her coat.   
  
"Hey, I didn't think that you'd be here yet," Randy said giving her a big hug. She couldn't help but smile more at his reaction to her. She found her self, liking the man in front of her more and more no matter how much she tried to think about the teenager that was so cruel to her.  
  
"I guess I'm just full of surprises. Two meals together in that many days, we must be lucky or something," Ali told him.  
  
Bob saw his son and the amazing young woman from the living room doorway. He had to smile at his handy work even though the two still had a long way to go to heal from everything that they'd done to each other. For a while he wondered if his plan would ever work, but looking now it looked like it was working quite well. He only hoped that it would continue working well.  
  
Leigh went into the entrance way to see who had just arrived. She saw one of her best friends and he brother hugging, and had Randy not told her about the kiss the previous night then she would be really freaked out.  
  
"Randy we really need to talk alone," Ali said before things could go any further. She needed to tell him what she was thinking as soon as possible.  
  
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What's gonna happen next? Now that you've read please review 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, if I did I wouldn't post it hear instead of making the millions I deserve.  
  
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, stupid ff.net decided to freeze my account again that is also the explanation to the number of chapters posted at once.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate Chapter Twelve  
  
Randy couldn't help but hug the woman who walked in the door. She looked just as gorgeous as she had the previous night even though she was dressed casually.  
  
He wasn't sure what to think when she said that they needed to talk. To him it seemed like they were getting along better, and she was beginning to trust him again, which is what he wanted all along. It might have taken him nearly ten years to realize it but he finally realized he needed her.  
  
"Okay, just pick a place," Randy said knowing that he needed to hear what she had to say.  
  
Ali didn't respond just grabbed his hand and lead him upstairs. The most private place she could think of was either Bob's office assuming it was vacant at the moment or, as much as she hated to admit it, his bedroom.  
  
She didn't stop until she got up to Bob's office and only then it was only to knock on the door. When she didn't get an answer she opened the door.  
  
"What did you want to say?" Randy asked.  
  
Now Ali didn't know how to say what she had so neatly planned out in her head. She knew unless she as honest with him they wouldn't have much of a friendship, and she figured that he wanted to be more than just friends.  
  
"You confuse me to no end," Ali told him honestly. "Not even two weeks ago you were calling me a bitch and saying everyone hated me, and then you offered to leave your own party when I was the one that had said the more hurtful things, then you come over and apologize and ask me to go to dinner with you."  
  
"Ali at the party we were both a little high strung emotionally and we'd been drinking," Randy reminded her. "We were both bitter."  
  
"That doesn't explain anything," Ali told him.  
  
"We wouldn't have normally said those things to each other. Honestly that night aside from how beautiful you were my first thought was to go upstairs and not even attend my party, but the doorbell rang before I could make any excuses," Randy said. Then I tried to make the best out of it, but I guess we were both to highly emotional to deal with each other at the time," Randy explained.  
  
"I didn't want to get along with you," Ali reluctantly admitted, "but somehow I found myself wanting to be around you even if it was only in the same room."  
  
"I know that feeling," Randy told her. He wondered where all this was coming from. He'd wanted to tell her he liked her since he apologized, but he hadn't wanted to scare her away again.  
  
"I was honestly going to find an excuse not to go to dinner with you last night, but every time I tried I couldn't come up with one," Ali said. She knew that his kiss as innocent as it had been changed he whole out look on everything about him, and it scared her.  
  
"That's a sign you know," Randy said. "If you really wouldn't have wanted to go then you would have been able to think of a way out if it." Randy hoped that hadn't sounded as stupid to her as it had to him. The last thing he needed was to make a complete idiot out of himself.  
  
"But what I want and what I need are two different things," Ali told him. She could barely explain their friendship to herself let alone to him.  
  
Randy had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he didn't want to hear the rest of her sentence. Nothing good could come out of the beginning.  
  
"I need someone who I'm not feeling so conflicted about all the time, someone who's there for me in the middle of the night when I remember all the cruel things that happened to us at our own hands, and the things that have happened to me since. You're always busy traveling around the world doing what you love more than anything else, what you've wanted to do since you were like eight years old. I want to be more than friends with you and see if all our relationship needed was time to grow, but I need a grounding force right now." Ali was trying to hold back the tears that were forming. The thing she wanted more than anything else is the one thing she needed to stay away from more than ever. "We can be friends Randy but right now, with the way things are we can't be more."  
  
Randy had a feeling that she would pull away now. He'd noticed her voice slowly changing through the conversation, and now what he'd never wanted to hear, was being said. "Ali how do you know we couldn't make something work? Just because I may be in a different place as you doesn't mean that I wouldn't be there for you." Randy was trying to keep his voice from sounding to emotional or they'd just argue again and be all the way back to square one.  
  
"Randy we couldn't make it work when we had the slight innocence advantage almost ten years ago, can you honestly prove to me that we've changed that much?" Ali asked. Her heart was saying that she needed to stop and just tell him what she was feeling not what her brain was thinking, but she couldn't. Her brain was telling her to push him away as fast as she could, and doing this was the only way she could, without destroying him.  
  
"You've said it yourself, Ali, we're more mature now. We've had enough experiences to know what being in a real relationship is like. We know what we want and what we need," Randy told her presenting all the evidence he could think of, but given the heightened state of his emotions he didn't think it was very convincing. "You never know what will happen until you try."  
  
"We did try Randy, we were what everyone thought of as the perfect couple, I loved you," Ali admitted. She'd never admitted that to anyone, and never though she would admit it to him.  
  
"And I still loved you," Randy told her. "Every girl I have ever met, and you can ask Leigh about this has been compared t o you. I was looking for someone like you but now I've realized that there isn't anyone else."  
  
Tears were spilling out both Randy and Ali's eyes both because of what they said and what the other said. Ali couldn't stand to hurt him but she also couldn't stand to get hurt again, and she wasn't talking about he hurt she felt when she was only fourteen she'd been in a succession of bad relationships since then, worse than theirs ever got by far.  
  
"Something tells me this doesn't only have to do with me," Randy said. "Someone else hurt you way more than I did."  
  
"Your right and that combined with my parents' death and everything else going on in both of our lives makes it impossible to start anything more than a friendship between us," Ali told him calming down slightly. If she was ever going to get through this she needed to calm down and think not act all emotional.  
  
"And if I don't let you walk out of my life like you want me to right now," Randy said. He knew she had only used the just friends excuse because he was so busy that inevitably they would end up losing touch.  
  
"Randy I don't want you to walk out of my life, I want us to be friends, just nothing more than friends," Ali told him honestly. Tears were starting to blurring her vision again, and threatening to spill over.  
  
"Ali I want you in my life, I took me way to long to realize I need you in my life to much to let you go now, so if you want to keep things purely on a friendship level than I'll just have to deal with it," Randy said after a pause. I like almost cried writing this chapter, so I hope you all loved it. Please read and review. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Randy could tell this was tearing her apart inside. She was crying, and in the first fourteen years of her life he'd only seen her cry once, when her grandmother died. Now she was crying and he couldn't help but want to hurt whomever the cause of it was.  
  
"Thank you Randy," she said this time taking the initiative and giving him a big hug. She could tell he really needed it, after she crushed him he way she did. She couldn't imagine that they would ever have ended up like this.  
  
"We must look like a mess," Randy said after a few moments.  
  
"No see I'm the beautiful one and you always look like a mess," Ali told him.  
  
"True," Randy said. "You're beautiful, but I'm not always a mess, I'm a handsome man."  
  
"Don't even start with me or I'll kick your ass all the way downstairs," Ali said with a smirk. Things were friendly for the moment but she didn't know how long that would last. They'd both been pretty emotional the last few weeks and she hoped their conversation wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak.  
  
"I'm the one that's supposed to smirk not you," Randy said playfully. "We should probably go downstairs before they start looking for us."  
  
"Yeah," Ali agreed. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom, I'll be down in a second."  
  
"Okay," Randy said leaving the room. He couldn't believe that he told her so many things that he hadn't meant to tell her yet. He wanted to wait until she trusted him more to say some of that.  
  
He stopped at the top of the stairs wiped his face with his sleeves to make sure he'd gotten all the tears off his face, and to make sure that he had his emotions in control before he had to face his parents and sister. He knew hiding the emotion from Leigh was damn near impossible, but he hoped his parents would at least pretend not to know. He'd rather not relive the last 30 minutes of his life especially when he knew he was going to have to with the guys being the way they were.  
  
He almost literally ran into his sister on the way downstairs. "Sorry," he said giving her a little smile.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked immediately. "You didn't say something stupid or I'll have to kick your ass."  
  
"No, Ali did most of the talking, I'll tell you later," Randy said knowing she was going to hear about it anyway.  
  
Leigh knew if the look on his face despite the "hidden" emotion told her anything she'd be in for a long night, if not longer. "Where is Ali anyway?" Leigh asked.  
  
"Bathroom," Randy said simply. He decided that he needed to concentrate on putting on a game face before seeing his parents. "Do I really look like a ball of messed up emotions?"  
  
"You looked like something was wrong but not like you've just had one of the most emotional twenty-four hours of your life," Leigh told her brother, possibly a little to honestly.  
  
"Leigh the firs half of that answer would have been enough," Randy told he knowing that there as nothing more that he could do now. "Hey Leigh how much do you know about what's happened to Ali the last six years?"  
  
"I can tell you I don't know much, but I can't tell you what I know," Leigh told him. "It would break her trust in me and no matter how much I think you guys would be for each other, I won't betray her."  
  
"I know I'm sorry I even asked. Can you at least put in a good word so eventually she might trust me enough to completely know what's going on in her head?" Randy asked realizing how stupid he was to have even asked the question.  
  
He'd found himself doing that a lot lately. At the party he was stupid when he verbally attacked Ali, and just now for not telling her more of how he was feeling even though she'd admitted that she was holding things back from him. He was losing all of the sanity he'd rebuilt in the last six years.  
  
He went into the family where his parents were watching movies. He sat on the couch and began absently watching the movie. A few minutes later he noticed Ali and Leigh enter the room. Ali sat on the other end of the couch with her legs curled underneath her. Leigh took a seat on the floor like she usually did.  
  
A little while later Ella got up to start dinner, and Leigh and Ali went with her. Randy didn't really want to be left in a room alone with his father, but following his mother and sister in the kitchen would be more suspicious than the traces of his previous conversation.  
  
"So, what's wrong, son?" Bob asked. As much as Randy thought he could hide things from his parents he never really managed to. One of them always knew what was going on.  
  
"Nothing," Randy lied praying that it sounded convincing.  
  
"Has anyone ever told you how bad you are at lying?" Bob asked his son. He knew that in this case he was going to have to approach a little kinder than he had the morning after the party incident. "For someone who was so happy when he was told Ali was coming for dinner you look pretty glum."  
  
"Don't worry about it Dad, it's not anything you can help me out of," Randy told his dad trying to answer the question. He knew his dad wanted to see him and Ali together, but right now that was going to take a lot of time if it was even possible at all.  
  
"How do you know if you don't tell me?" Bob asked his son. He knew it had to have something to do with Ali from the way his son was avoiding answering his questions.  
  
"Dad, stop," Randy said. "I'm sure you'll know soon enough."  
  
Bob decided to let it go for the moment. He was right. Ric would eventually know what was bothering Randy and then tell him. He didn't want to get his son frustrated at the moment especially with company even though it was only Ali.  
  
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"Ali what's wrong. You look like you've been through an emotional wringer," Leigh asked her friend. She didn't mind asking in front of her mother as she knew Ella had noticed the same thing.  
  
"Don't worry about it Leigh," Ali told her friend. She knew that if Leigh didn't know at the moment she would soon enough, probably both from her and Rand's points of view.  
  
"Ali, it's not going to help any if you keep it all bottled up inside," Ella told the young woman she'd come to think of as another daughter.  
  
"I know it'll just take a little time to digest all that's happened. I need to come to terms with things that have happened before I can tell anyone," Ali said.  
  
"You're not going to let your past ruin you're future are you?" Leigh asked suddenly remembering what Randy asked her earlier.  
  
"Leigh I'm not getting into this right now," Ali said knowing that her friend might just be right, but she couldn't let anyone hurt her again, and if they were more than friends then Randy would hurt her whether or not he intended to.  
  
"You sound like you need it. Randy has been interested in you since he was fourteen years old. He didn't do anything to hurt you until you started the war that ended up humiliating both of you," Leigh said not caring what her mother already knew of the two's past. "He hasn't been able to let you go no matter how hard he tried. He took the initiative to apologize to you. He was willing to look forward, but you can't stop looking at the past long enough to notice that he's not he boy that you knew in high school. He's matured into a young man that is decent and all the wants is for you to give him a chance." Leigh didn't mean to lay into one of her best friends, but she didn't want to see her brother lead along while Ali got her life together and then rejected him.  
  
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I write, you read and review. That's the way the system works 


	14. Chapter 14

Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
  
Dinner that evening was strained. Ali and Randy knew not to say anything to each other because they'd done enough to each other's emotional stability for one day. Leigh and Randy would start fighting if Ali and Leigh continued their go at it in the kitchen.  
  
"Ali, Randy, please do the dishes," Bob ordered. He figured whatever caused the swing of emotion in the two was because one, if not both, of them were trying to push away from the other. He was going to do what he could to push them back together.   
  
"Yes, Dad," Randy said. He was dreading this task almost as much as he had Christmas Eve, ironically enough because again he didn't think he could control himself. He wanted to hold her and taste her lips again and being totally completely alone in the kitchen with her was going to drive him crazy.  
  
Ali wasn't thrilled with Bob's edict either. She wasn't stupid and could see what Leigh and Bob were trying to do. They wanted them together, a little part of her had to admit that she wanted them to be together also, but right now there were just too many things standing in the way. Things she wasn't that she could survive through if she put he heart on the line again.  
  
"You want to wash?" Randy asked. He wanted to get this over with as soon as she could. He didn't trust himself.  
  
"You wash I'll get the rest of the stuff from the dining room," Ali said exiting the kitchen.  
  
Randy noticed how beautiful she looked even with all the painful emotions on her face. 'Stop,' he told himself. He couldn't keep thinking that way. He would only drive himself crazier.  
  
Ali had to give herself a mental pep talk. Her last intention had been to hurt him, that's why she pushed him away now instead of waiting. She couldn't quite quell the feeling that she should have waited until she was surer if things wouldn't, or couldn't, work out between the two.  
  
A few minutes later Ali walked back into the kitchen. She couldn't take any longer clearing the last few dishes off the table. "You know I'm really interested in you," Randy told her. He didn't care that Ali had just told them she only wanted to be friends. He was going to say what was on his mind, then if she still thought the same why he would respect her wishes. "You fascinate me. I've never really stopped thinking about you."  
  
"Randy I already told you I just want a friend. There is too much going on that one or both of us will only get hurt in the end," Ali told him. She had to stand her ground; she couldn't just give in until she knew what they were going to get into.  
  
"What happened to you Ali? You used to be up for anything and would follow your heart? Now you're almost like a shell of yourself. There was a time when you would have done what your heart told you to do not what all common sense was telling you," Randy told her. He didn't know what to say to her anymore. He wanted the spitfire that he'd seen in her several times back.  
  
"Randy, don't even start with me. People change you should know that better than anyone. As your sister told me you're not the same boy you were in high school, and I agree with her. Now you have to accept that I'm not the same girl. I've changed," Ali told him. Maybe if she argued with him she wouldn't have to admit that he was right.  
  
"People don't just change on their own Ali," Randy said. "Situations change people. Something happened to make you so different. I've seen you be the girl I remembered. What do I have to do piss you off for you to tell me what your hearts telling you?"  
  
"Randy would just stop being you. You don't know how infuriating you can be," Ali told him. "What's wrong with being friends? It was you who told me that you would have to deal with being friends."  
  
"I'm no more infuriating than you are. You always keep everything so guarded. It's almost like you're afraid that if you tell anyone anything they'll betray you somehow," Randy told her. "If you keep doing that your going to find yourself lonely and bitter, and you won't have anyone to blame for it except yourself.  
  
"You know what? You're only proving my point. The more I let you come back in the more you want. What if I'm not ready for anything more than a friendship? What if I want to be sure that I can trust you before we have any sort of relationship?"  
  
Randy was about ready to pull his hair out. This was the young woman he imagined she would be not the woman he was talking to upstairs, and now he didn't know what to say to her. "How can I be proving your point when you haven't let me in on that much of your life?"  
  
"Because you're judging me instead of supporting me like a true friend would. Instead of asking me about what has happened you just assumed that I would be the same person as I was six years ago."  
  
"Every time you've been around me so far you've been very similar to the person I knew. If you don't let me know that you've changed then how the hell am I supposed to know how to react to the change?"  
  
"I gave you a chance to prove that you changed for the better, but I don't get the same treatment. Maybe I was more right than I thought when I said that we wouldn't have a chance."  
  
"Ali I'm not trying to push you away. You're the one who's trying to run away from me. Now you're getting upset with me for calling things like I see them. I've always done that."  
  
"See what I mean. One minute you're telling me that you've changed the next your acting so much like you did in high school."  
  
"Ali whatever happened to you happened. You have to deal with that. I learned in the last six years you don't know what you have till it's gone and with the way you've been acting today I don't know to think. I wanted you so bad; I tried so hard to explain to you then to make up to you before you humiliated me in the cafeteria that day. I felt miserable. I knew I lost the best thing that happened to me. When I saw you on Christmas I saw my chance to get what I wanted. You were the most wonderful person I knew. Now I'm not even sure if I know you."  
  
"You have no idea what happened to me. High school was the best of it. I've been through hell and came back."  
  
"I have no idea because you won't tell me. I've been honest with you and you won't be honest with me. You just keep doing what you can to protect yourself instead of heal the emotional scars that you have."  
  
Ali couldn't help her. She wanted to slap him but she knew that he was right. The tears that had been welling up behind her eyes spilled out. When he saw her crying Randy felt bad that he pushed it that far and wrapped her in another big hug.  
  
Randy was holding her and Ali realized that she liked it. She liked having him hold her, and she had to admit it to at least herself. She knew that a lot of the things he said had been right and that if she didn't let someone in soon then she would never learn to let people in again.  
  
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What's going to happen next? While you're pondering that please review. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Fifteen  
  
Ali spent two long days agonizing over the things that Randy told her. As much as she tried to deny it and figure out why, she knew he was being brutally honest with her. Something that she hadn't realized how much she needed until now.  
  
She had tried to build up the courage to call him and see if he wanted to go out, but every time she'd failed. She knew that he would call eventually; if he didn't have the nerve to, Leigh would make up a reason that he needed to. For once she wanted to be the first one to give a little bit, he'd been the first to act like he wanted to put the past behind them, he'd been the first to not back down, he'd been the first to apologize, and now she knew it was her turn but she was having problems actually going through with it.  
  
Sunday evening she finally picked up her phone and dialed his number, praying that he would answer it before she lost her nerve and hung up. It only rang a couple times before she heard his voice. 'There's still time to hang up,' a very little voice said.  
  
"Hello," he said again. He'd known who it was because of the handy little feature, Caller ID.  
  
"Hi," Ali said quietly. Maybe he wouldn't hear her and hang up.  
  
"Ali," Randy said not knowing what else to say.  
  
"You were right. If I don't learn to let people in then my emotional scars won't heal," Ali said. It took a lot for her to admit that she was wrong. She'd made herself be right for so long that it almost physically hurt to do it.  
  
"Look if you still want to be just friends then I'll respect that, I just wanted to get my feelings out before you made any decisions about what you wanted to do," Randy told her.  
  
"I don't know Randy, I think we should just take things slow and decide what's going on. Everything is so crazy right now, and we're both really busy," Ali said. "Maybe we could catch a movie next time your in town."  
  
"Yeah, sure. I think I'll be back Friday sometime," Randy said.  
  
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When Randy saw the number he'd been waiting for on his caller ID he wasn't sure what to think. Part of him wanted to think of that as a little victory, but the logical part of him said that there were any number of reasons that she would call him, including telling him to leave her alone forever.  
  
As the conversation progressed he knew it was a little victory. He was thrilled that she was finally realizing what he'd realized already. Now it would only take time to rebuild her confidence in not only him but in relationships in general. When she suggested a movie when he got back she wasn't sure what to think. He'd had to keep on her about going out now she was suggesting it, and he wasn't going to decline the offer.  
  
"Friday sounds good," she said when he told her he thought he was going to be home next. "I guess I'll see you then."  
  
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Call me like later and we'll figure out what movie we're going to," he said lounging on his hotel bed. He was happy that Dave was in the shower so that he wouldn't have to listen to his tormenting along with talking to Ali.  
  
"Okay, and call me after Raw tomorrow night, especially if you have a rough match," Ali told him.  
  
He couldn't help but smile. The best medicine for him the previous week had been her phone call. "I will. I'm sorry about freaking you out like that last week. I guess I should have been more careful," he told her. Now he had a reason to expect at least one more phone call, and to call her. That would be three conversations in a week, and hopefully all of them friendly.  
  
"I have to go to work in the morning so I'd better let you go," Ali said remembering that she started her new job at 8:30 the next morning.  
  
"Where are you working anyway? Last I heard you're boss wouldn't have let you have all day any day let alone Friday off," Randy said.  
  
"I got a new job at a local daycare center," Ali told him. "I'm really going to go now so I'll talk to you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye," Randy said before she hung up. He turned off his phone with a smile on his face. He thought about it for a minute and decided to turn it back on remembering how in their previous conversation she hinted at having nightmares about things that had happened to her.  
  
Dave came out of the shower as his friend was playing with his phone, which wasn't an uncommon occurrence lately. He assumed by the smile on his face that he'd gotten the call that he been waiting impatiently all day for. "Get a call from Ali?" he asked to make sure.  
  
"Yeah," Randy said, knowing that it would be pointless to try to hide it from him. He would see it on his face. Something very annoying, and he'd have to work on. The guys knowing every one of his emotions just had to stop.  
  
"I'm assuming all's well now considering you're smiling from ear to ear," Dave said. "And don't even bother trying to hide it. It's good seeing you smile."  
  
"Yeah, we're going to catch a movie hopefully Friday night," Randy said. "I've finally gotten it through her head for the moment that the past is the past and the only way to heal is to let it go."  
  
"Good advice. I'm going to have to ask you for advice next time I need it," Dave told his friend. "We've got an early morning."  
  
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The next day when she got home from work at almost five o'clock Ali felt happier then she had in a long time. She was anticipating a call from Randy later, and had a wonderful day at work for the first time in a long time. For the first time in a long time things were looking up.  
  
She checked her phone messages and then went to make dinner for herself. That's when she felt a little bit lonely. She was eating alone again, but quickly shipped those thoughts off to the back of her mind. She didn't want to think about that kind of stuff when she'd been so happy a moment before.  
  
By eight o'clock she was ready to curl up on the couch and watch this weeks installment of Raw and make sure that Randy didn't hurt himself again. She knew from watching him that he was usually careful but something had thrown him off his game last week, probably her.  
  
She watched the whole show intently and couldn't believe on the last show before the Royal Rumble Randy didn't have a match. He only did a usually corny promo. She realized that he let her believe that he had a match so that he could call her that night and she had to smile a little bit, before reminding herself that she had to make sure he knew if he did that again then she'd kick his bum.  
  
It wasn't 10 minutes after Raw ended that her phone rang. She contemplated leaving it and getting it later, but she was almost positive that it was Randy calling her like he'd told her he would the previous night.  
  
She talked to him for a little while longer than she had the previous evening before changing and getting ready for bed. She found herself not wanting to hang up, but she knew she had to.  
  
Ali slept peacefully for a while until she started having her nightmare. She's been having it for years only this time instead of one ex or another it was Randy that was hurting her both physically and emotionally. She woke up in a cold sweat with tears running down her face. She reached for the nightstand and when she found the desired object and did the first thing that she could think of.  
  
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Now that you've read it's time for you to review. 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Fine Line Between Love and Hate Chapter Sixteen  
  
Sometime in the middle of the night Randy's phone rang. Before reaching over to the nightstand to find his phone he mentally cursed himself for leaving it on.  
  
Before he could say a thing he heard Ali's nearly hysterical voice. He'd never heard her so scared. "Shh, Ali what's wrong?" Randy asked now fully awake.  
  
Ali took a few minutes to regain her composure enough to string together a coherent thought. "I had a nightmare," she told him slightly more calmly, "I know this sounds absolutely crazy but you were hurting me."  
  
"Ali, you don't have to worry about me hurting you," Randy told her calmly. It was taking all he had in him to say calm and not start asking rapid fire questions.  
  
"You're right," Ali said still sounding shaky. "It was only a stupid dream."  
  
"It's okay," Randy said. "Everything will be fine."  
  
"It was really freaky," Ali said.  
  
Randy talked to her for a while longer before she thought she was calm enough to try to go back to sleep. In typical Ali fashion she apologized for call him in the middle of the night before she hung up.  
  
Randy tried to go back to sleep, but now the anger he'd held in check for the last hour was starting to kick in. From the bits and pieces he'd been able to get from her she'd been hurt. Now he wanted to find whoever hurt her and kill them. He only wished there was a gym open at three am. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
The morning when Ali had to get out of bed she felt like calling in, but quickly decided against it considering it was only her second day. She quickly went through her morning routine, hoping that she would still be able to be on time.  
  
Work came and when. She loved that she was working with little children, but his morning was one of those mornings that it was hard to be thankful for anything. At least with her previous jobs she could zone out and not get into to much.  
  
After she finished at work, she decided that she'd better go see the Ortons. She was usually over there every couple of days and she hadn't even talked to Ella, Bob, or Leigh since the disaster Friday evening, and it was now Tuesday.  
  
"You look tired," Leigh observed when she saw her friend. Ali had to smile that that remark because it made hr think of how tired Randy must look now.  
  
"I kind of had a nightmare last night," Ali told her best friend knowing it would be stupid to hide it from her.  
  
"Why didn't you call?" Leigh asked concerned. She hated for Ali to have to go through those alone.  
  
"I don't know I just picked up the phone and the number I dialed was Randy," Ali told her. "He spent almost an hour calming me down."  
  
Leigh couldn't help but to smile. She knew that her brother and Ali needed each other and the fact that Ali blindly called his number and he talked to her proved it.  
  
"Ali," Lizzie said flinging herself at the woman, "I missed you."  
  
"I'm sorry sweetheart," Ali said. "Did you have fun with your daddy?"  
  
Lizzie started to rattle on about her father and all her presents from her grandma and grandpa. Ali couldn't help but to love the child. Lizzie made her remember why she wanted to have children of her own.  
  
Ali stayed for dinner, seeing as she had issues saying no to anyone with the last name of Orton. She also knew that she wouldn't be able to make it Friday and felt a little bit guilty about it.  
  
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Somebody got a late night, or was it early morning phone call," Dave teased as they were traveling to the arena for the next house show.  
  
"I would hope it was from the woman you're going out with Friday night," Paul said smirking.  
  
"Can we please move on to any topic aside from Randy's love life or lack there of?" Randy asked.  
  
"You have to have a love life you're going on a date this week with the same woman you did last week. That has to be like a first for you," Dave pointed out.  
  
"I know you guys just want to live vicariously through me," Randy said with a smirk. He figured whatever he said was only going to fuel the situations the had in their head so why not just help them along a little bit.  
  
"That would be why he looks so tired," Paul joked. "He was up all night thinking about things that I'd rather not go into."  
  
"Ali called," Randy said. He knew everyone already knew that so could at least admit that much.  
  
"At two in the morning," Dave added.  
  
"It wasn't her fault," Randy said. Dave just have him a questioning look. "I don't know everything that's why I'm not telling you anything. Besides I don't want to break Ali's trust."  
  
Ric just looked at the younger and could see how much he'd changed in the last few weeks. If this was what Bob was talking about then he was right. The two did belong together.  
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When she got home Ali hoped that there was a message from Randy. She didn't think it was to promising when she got home and there was only one message on her answering machine. She pushed the play button and expected some relative that didn't really care but only called because she was family. Instead, Randy's voice filled the room.  
  
She called him back but got his voice mail, so she left him a message. She decided that she needed to get a cell phone as soon as she could that way it's be easier for them to get in touch if need be. I know it's been kind of short compared to recent chapters but this was good stopping point. Pleas review. 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Seventeen  
  
Randy's plane got in at 3:45 Friday afternoon, and Leigh was right there to pick him up. When he got home he decided that he should go surprised Ali, but if she wasn't home he'd have to wait outside in the cold. "Leigh do you have a key to Ali's apartment?" Randy asked sweetly.  
  
"Randy Keith Orton what are you up to now?" Leigh asked. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head.  
  
"I just wanted to surprise her. I mean we're going to catch a movie later," Randy said.  
  
"Fine but if you say you got it from me then I will deny it to my dieing day," Leigh said giving him the key.  
  
"You're the best sister in the world," Randy said giving her a hug.  
  
"Don't forget when my birthday comes around," Leigh joked. "I have to go get Lizzie now though so see you later."  
  
"Bye," Randy said. He put away a few things, and then went over to Ali's.  
  
He got over there about 4:45 and she wasn't home yet, so he let himself in. He did feel a little guilty because he could scare her nearly to death. In the end he decided it would be worth it.  
  
About 10 minutes later Ali unlocked her door, walked into her apartment, and heard the TV. She was a little freaked out, but then realized that anyone who wanted to hurt her wouldn't leave any clues of their presence. She walked into the living room and saw him. "Hey stranger," She said. She was slightly embarrassed that she was covered in finger paint from work, but other than that she was okay.  
  
"Looks like someone was a little creative today," Randy teased. He thought she still looked beautiful.  
  
"It happens when you work with very creative two year olds," Leigh said giving him a hug. It smeared some of the half dry paint on him too. She saw the look on his face and laughed. "Don't worry its just finger paint it'll come of in the washer."  
  
Randy laughed. He had a good feeling about this. She was actually starting to let him in. "You probably better change if you're planning on going out into public."  
  
"Seeing as you've already made yourself at home then I guess I might as well," Ali said turning to go to her bedroom. She couldn't believe that he was actually here. She knew that she as going to see him later, but him seeing her paint covered wasn't something that she was happy about.  
  
"What do you want to do for dinner?" Randy asked when she came back out.  
  
"Don't know, I had some chicken out but it doesn't really matter to me what we have to eat," Ali told him.  
  
"You can cook, that's so cool," Randy, said.  
  
"Randy my mom could cook, and your mom can cook. I'd have to be totally stupid to not pick it up," Ali reminded him. "I was thinking about making some chicken Alfredo or something like that."  
  
"I can help," Randy said.  
  
"You stopped being able to burn water," Ali teased.  
  
"It was only because you and Leigh distracted me," Randy protested remembering the incredibly embarrassing incident when he was about 12 years old.  
  
"I guess cutting things won't get you into to much trouble," Ali said when Randy followed her into the kitchen.  
  
The pair made dinner; well Ali did most of it, as Randy was pretty much useless in the kitchen. That was something that Ali couldn't get over. When they sat down for dinner the two continued to talk and joke. They were pretty much all smiles.  
  
"What movie are we going to see?" Randy asked.  
  
"I was thinking maybe 'Cheaper by The Dozen'," Ali said.  
  
"You still go see every Steve Martin movie?" Randy asked remembering the several he'd been dragged along to when he was younger. He guessed some habits died hard.  
  
"Shut up, there's a lot of movies you just saw because there was a hot chick in. At least Steve Martin has talent," Ali told him already looking the paper to see when the movie started.  
  
"You aren't going to take no for an answer," Randy said observing her actions.  
  
"Pretty much," Ali said seeing the next movie didn't start until 8:30. "The next showing's at 8:30, maybe all your teeny fans will already be inside."  
  
"My fans aren't all teenies. You're one of my fans aren't you?" Randy asked with a smirk.  
  
"Shut up. I'm only an Evolution fan because you guys are heels," Ali said. "Speaking of, I'm sorry about calling you so late the other night, I'm sure they're never going to let you live it down."  
  
"Don't worry about it, it might be just what I needed to get my own room from now on," Randy told her.  
  
The two continued to talk until they had to leave for the movie. "Can I drive you're car?" Ali asked.  
  
"Hell no, its my car," Randy said grabbing his keys.  
  
"Please," Ali said putting on a pathetic puppy dog face. She hoped that he would have as much effect as it had ten years ago.  
  
"No, only I drive my car," Randy said knowing that with that face it was a matter of time before he had to give in.  
  
"Randy, I promise I'll be careful. I only want to drive it once," Ali told him. She hoped that he was close to giving in. She didn't know how much longer she could keep the puppy face going before she started cracking up.  
  
"Fine," He gave in not believing that he was actually going to let someone drive his car.  
  
The movie went by pretty nicely. "That actually wasn't bad," Randy admitted when the movie was finished.  
  
"It was pretty good," Ali said.  
  
The two drove in the car back to Ali's apartment. "You want to rent a movie or two?" Randy asked remembering he saw a rental place on the way to the theatre.  
  
"Sure why not," Ali said.  
  
It was nearly empty in the rental place. "So what are we going to get?" Randy asked already looking at the new releases.  
  
"I want to get this one," Ali said grabbing "Under the Tuscan Sun".  
  
"I don't want to see a chick flick," Randy whined.  
  
"I picked this one, you can pick another one. Whichever one you want," Ali said.  
  
"Fine," Randy said going directly for the comedies. There was an oldie but goodie that he wanted to see. He grabbed the movie and they went to he checkout.  
  
"I still can't believe you picked out 'Varsity Blues'," Ali said. She remembered the many times that she'd seen the movie. It'd been out for just about ever.  
  
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The next morning Ali woke up on the couch, and heard the snow on the television. She must have fallen asleep during the movie. She also felt someone's arms around her, that's when she remembered that Randy had come home with her to watch some movies.  
  
He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, to bad he wasn't going to be asleep for long. Ali quietly got up, got some whipped cream and sprayed in his hands. She then set out to tickling him with her long hair.  
  
Randy felt something tickle his nose, so he swatted at it. He then felt something cold and slightly slimey on his nose. He opened his eyes to see a grinning Ali standing over him.  
  
"Darn, I hoped it would take longer to wake up," Ali said. Before she knew what was happening Randy was tickling her with his whipped cream covered hands.  
  
"Stop, I give up," Ali said a few moments later. She was laughing so hard that she as almost peeing her pants.  
  
"Only if you make breakfast," Randy said as his stomach let out a loud rumble.  
  
"Fine, fine," Ali said, "but you have to get up soon."  
  
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It was all fluffy and stuff. Please review. 


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't bother to sue me.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Eighteen  
  
Randy and Ali spend much of the yd day hanging out and doing, as Randy put, normal people things. Randy nearly got mauled by fans when he decided to go grocery shopping with Ali. He knew she wasn't ever going to let him live it down.  
  
They had dinner at his parents house. He mused that the foundations of their relationship, romantic or otherwise, were all in this house.  
  
The Orton's were excited to see the changes in both Randy and Ali. Randy was actually mellowing out some, and Ali seemed for the first time in a long time happy. She seemed to be putting her past behind her.  
  
"Ali come to the Royal Rumble?" Randy asked out of no where.  
  
"Randy, I want to but I can't. There is no way in hell that I'll be able to get back in time for work on Monday. Asking for a day or two off your second week on the job isn't usually a good thing," Ali told him. "Next time an event is near here then I'll be more than happy to come."  
  
"Please," Randy begged.  
  
"I want to but I can't," she told him. "I have already ordered it."  
  
Randy wished there was something that he could do or say to make her come, but he saw how happy her new job made her.  
  
"You know what I want to see?" Leigh asked with a grin.  
  
"What?" Ali asked, not sure if she wanted to know where this was going. She thought she knew.  
  
"I want to see Foley kick the Legend Killer's ass. That would be funny," Leigh said. She smirked at her brother.  
  
"That would be kind of funny since the only legend he's managed to take off TV was Sgt. Slaughter and I'm not sure if that counts," Ali said knowing where this was going.  
  
"And you call yourself an Evolution fan," Randy said with mock hurt.  
  
"Mick Foley will be a hardcore legend always no matter how many times you spit in his face, which by the way was gross," Ali said. "Besides every time you fight Shawn Micheals I want him to win."  
  
Leigh gave her a high five. The look on Randy's face was absolutely priceless.  
  
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When Randy entered the Evolution locker room the looked happy but slightly bummed about something. The guys had a good idea of what it was considering that Ali wasn't with him.  
  
"I take it your date went well," Dave asked.  
  
"Ali and I had fun. Sorry I didn't call you. I forgot to turn my phone on after the theater," Randy said.  
  
"Now if only he could turn the damned thing off at night," Dave mumbled getting a laugh from the rest of the guys.  
  
"Hey guys," Shayna said coming into the room. "Randy you look happy."  
  
Paul filled her in on the story surrounding mostly the theories why he was so happy. "Now how much do you know is true?" She asked.  
  
"Well he went out with her twice in two weeks and when home Friday afternoon then flew back last night. For the brief period he thought Ali was pushing him away he was miserable," Paul told her.  
  
"And he finds stupid reasons to call her and got two late night phone calls last week," Dave told her. That was all the justification for the theories that they needed.  
  
"So they're starting a relationship," Shayna said slowly like she was talking to a group of elementary school students. "All the rest is your over active imagination. Why does it matter what is going on in his love life?"  
  
"Thank you," Randy said. "Finally someone it on my side."  
  
"If you'd tell them more they wouldn't have to create things to amuse themselves," Shayna told him. She couldn't believe how happy he was compared to the last time she'd seen him.  
  
Randy knew it was to good to be true. Shayna wasn't going to be on his side for long; no one ever was. He hated being the youngest member of Evolution for that reason.  
  
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Ali dropped Lizzie off at the Ortons. Leigh hadn't been feeling very well, so she'd volunteered to keep Lizzie occupied for a little while.  
  
Ali stayed and talked to Leigh for a while and inevitably the topic of conversation turned to Randy. Ali sometimes wondered how much Leigh wanted to see her and Randy together because as soon as she thinks she knows Leigh does something crazy.  
  
"I have to grab some food before the Rumble," Ali told her friend.  
  
"Fine, next time you talk to Randy tell him hi for me," Leigh said before her friend left.  
  
"Okay, see you tomorrow," Ali said leaving.  
  
She stopped at McDonalds before returning to her apartment. She couldn't wait to see Randy even if it was only on the television. She hoped that he would get a good number in the Rumble itself so it might be able to win.  
  
She wanted to hit the television when he entered at number two. For the next almost forty minutes she was on the edge of her seat, eyes glued to the television. She literally screamed at the television when Mick Foley eliminated Randy. She knew that Randy deserved to win.  
  
About twenty minutes later Randy called, like he did after every event. She heard the guys teasing him in the background teasing him and smiled.  
  
They talked for a little while about stupid things mostly. She was insanely happy at the moment. She loved talking to him. He reassured her that he'd only suffered normal bumps and bruises during the match and altercation with Mick Foley. "You have to come to Mania," Randy said. "I won't take no for an answer.   
  
"Fine, I'll see what I can do," Ali told them. She wanted to see the next pay per view that he was going to be in, and Mania was the biggest event of the year. "All you have to do is make sure I can get backstage."  
  
"Consider it done," Randy said.  
  
"Leigh said hi, and I'm going to go," Ali said. "Talk to you soon."  
  
"Bye," Randy said.  
  
Ali went to sleep relatively easily with the memories of Friday and Saturday playing in her head.  
  
Then next day after work, Ali finally decided that she was going to get a cell phone. She'd checked into it a little bit on and off the past few weeks. She'd finally decided which one and got it. She couldn't wait to call Randy on the thing.  
  
She watched Raw that night and the handicap match when easy enough for Evolution, but she knew there was more. Mick Foley was in the building and didn't disappoint. At the end of the show there was a confrontation between Mick and Randy. She couldn't help but laugh.  
  
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Randy was still sore from the Rumble, and then the Foley incident added to it. When he showered he took extra long hoping that the hot water would relieve some of the tension and soreness in his muscles. It wasn't working to well.  
  
"Dude, you have a phone call," Dave called.  
  
"Who is it?" Randy asked knowing the answer hopefully.  
  
"It's the grim reaper, no it's the woman you love so dearly," Dave said. "You want me to tell her you'll call her back?"  
  
"No, talk to her for a few minutes and play nicely," Randy said turning the knobs on the shower. He dried off and put on a pair of track pants before emerging from the bathroom.  
  
He talked to her a little bit before lying down on his bed exhausted. "Are you going to turn that thing off?" Dave asked.  
  
"Nope," Randy said with his eyes still closed. "It probably won't ring again tonight though."  
  
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Look it's done. Yay. All you need to do is review 


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I however did create the characters that you aren't familiar with.  
  
A/N: Yes I'm on a Valentines kick and yeah I know it's a little late. Just a warning.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate Chapter Nineteen  
  
The next week was a whirlwind. Randy again came home Friday (morning this time) and left Saturday night for Sunday's house show. To most it was a waste but he got to see Ali so he was pretty happy.  
  
During Raw he was trying to figure out what he was going to do for Valentine's Day. That was going to be the next time he would see her. Then it occurred to him. Call Leigh.  
  
He made the call and after much pleading Leigh gave him insight into what a girl wants for Valentine's Day, and some more of Ali's quirks. He knew there would be a point when Leigh wanted him to help her and knew this conversation would come back to haunt him, but he didn't care.  
  
Randy finally had the perfect idea Tuesday afternoon, a romantic picnic dinner. It unfortunately wasn't warm enough for an outside picnic, so either her living room floor, or his would have to work. Of course there would be the typical flowers and chocolate also.  
  
He spent the rest of the week looking for a perfect card for her. Dave and Paul laughed at him calling his search an obsession. He didn't care too much, in fact he was beginning to get quite used to being the object of attention. Even the divas had noticed that he wasn't trying to hit on them as of late.  
  
Randy decided that it would be better to not mention that Dave and Paul were just as obsessive about finding the right card for the women in their lives. He knew what he wanted it was just a matter of finding it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Friday was insane. Randy arrived in St. Louis around noon and still had to get to the flower shop to send Ali some flowers. It was the first of many clues that she was going to get about what was going on. He was still upset that tomorrow there was a big photo shoot for Raw Magazine so he had to surprise her tonight.  
  
While he was at the flower shop he got dozens of roses and lilies (her favorite flower he got that little tidbit from Leigh). He also made stops to get chocolates and candles. He stopped at his parents' house to find the blanket that he, Ali, and Leigh had picnics on as children.  
  
Leigh only laughed at him for the obsessiveness of his plan. He didn't think it was funny but let her laugh as much as she wanted to.  
  
Randy went right to work getting everything that he could think of set up. He wanted this to be special to her. He wanted this to be perfect. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Ali came back from her lunch break and found a huge bouquet of red roses with half a dozen pink lilies mixed in waiting at the reception desk. She smiled and knew it was for her before anyone even told her. She looked at the card and noticed Randy's untidy scrawl. She smiled even more. The message was short and said that she'd see him later.  
  
The rest of her afternoon when that much better. She was nearly floating on the clouds and her co-workers noticed. They asked a lot of questions, and she gave some answers.  
  
When she got home that evening she found more flowers. "This is getting ridiculous," she muttered. There was another little note telling her to wear something special, and that there would be a driver there at 6:30 that evening. She really wanted to know what was going on.  
  
She realized that she didn't have a lot of time to get ready so she hopped into the shower, before looking through her closet time and time again to find the perfect outfit. She wasn't sure what to wear so she called Leigh.  
  
Leigh's suggestion was actually pretty good. Ali wore a nice light pink tank top and a black skirt simple yet formal. She did her hair in a half pony tail and put on some light makeup before noticing that it was almost time. She was very curious about her surprise. She couldn't wait to see what he managed to find to surprise her. She grabbed the two cards that were for him. (She made one and one was a rather humorous one that she'd found at the card shop.)  
  
At exactly 6:30 a limo pulled up in front of her apartment building. 'He's going crazy,' Ali though to herself waiting for the driver to knock on her door. She wasn't going to let Randy live this one down.  
  
The limo ride for Ali was much longer than it needed to be probably because she was blindfold the whole time. 'This had better be worth it,' she thought to herself. She absolutely hated not knowing where she was going.  
  
When she heard the door open she also heard Randy's voice. She now needed to know what he had been planning that she knew was going to be far to elaborate. She knew how he planed things. If he was going to take the time to do it plan it the event was going to be absolutely amazing. He'd been the same way as a child - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Randy knew this was going to be good. He couldn't wait to see her reaction to what he had planned. He'd gotten Italian food from a local restaurant that she claimed was her favorite and of course everything else that he'd work so hard the last six hours to plan.  
  
He knew that whatever hell he got from her for all this being to much or not knowing where she was going would be totally worth it. Once she saw what was going he was sure she wouldn't really be mad at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Ali took his hand and he lead her up to the house before Randy took of her blindfold. She was right out side what she assumed was his house. The house looked beautiful. It was actually very similar to his parents' house, though she wasn't going to tell him that.  
  
He walked with her into the entrance way where red, pink and white, rose petals lined the path to another room. She knew this was going to be something she would never forget.  
  
"Randy this is amazing," she said quietly.  
  
"The best is yet to come," he told her with a half smile half smirk. 'He doesn't know how sexy he looks doing that,' Ali thought.  
  
He led Ali into the living room where everything was set up. He knew right away that he'd taken her breath away. He very much enjoyed doing that.  
  
"Oh my God," Ali whispered. He smiled knowing he'd shocked her to a loss of words. "This is all so much."  
  
"Don't worry about it," he told her.  
  
She didn't realize what blanket it was on the floor until she felt it. "You're mom actually kept this thing all these years?"  
  
"She's a bit sentimental. I just had to find it and she was more than happy to let me use it," Randy said. He didn't mention that he had to search around the attic for forty five minutes to find it.  
  
The couple ate in a comfortable silence. They broke it up with a little bit of small talk.  
  
"I feel really stupid now, because I only got you a card," Ali said sheepishly.  
  
"It's fine," Randy said. He took the envelope where he took out both cards. A smile spread across his face as he read the store bought one.  
  
He gave her his card and in the envelope there was the promise ring that he'd given her years ago, the same one that she'd thrown at him. Ali was just about in tears, and Randy knew that for once they were tears of joy.  
  
"Randy you shouldn't have," Ali said not able to come up with more any more words.  
  
"I wanted to. I saved that ring and told myself that I would give it to the woman I love, and that woman is you. No one else even knows I still have the ring," Randy told her.  
  
Unable to think of words to say Ali gave him a kiss. A kiss that was filled with all the love, happiness, and passion that she was feeling.  
  
There you go. I hope you all liked it. Please review, feel free to make suggestions an such. 


	20. Chapter Twenty

Disclaimer: As always I don't own anything, for some reason Vince always laughs at my offers.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate Chapter Twenty  
  
Ali was thrilled about today. It was the Thursday before Wrestlemania, and in just a few short hours she was going to see Randy. That added to the extravaganza that she knew Wtrestlemania was going to be kept her going all day.  
  
Leigh stopped by to see Ali after she got out of work. She wanted to say good-bye to her friend and to drive Ali to the airport so she wouldn't have to leave her car there or take a cab.  
  
When Ali got to the airport she as nervous. She hated flying and didn't really want to go on the plane by herself. The only thing that was pushing him on the plane was that she was going to see Randy.  
  
"Remember chica don't do anything that I wouldn't do," Leigh told her friend when she got as far as she could go with her.  
  
"Thanks Leigh, that doesn't really help me a lot. There isn't a lot that you wouldn't do," Ali joked. She was trying to relieve the tension she was feeling about the plane.  
  
"Say hi to my brother for me and tell him to call me or I'll kick his ass," Leigh said ignoring her friend's comments.  
  
"Sure, and I'll tell him that Lizzie misses him," Ali said. She was beginning to think of his family as her own more than she had ever.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Randy was pacing almost like a manic around his and Dave's room.  
  
"Chill I would still like to have my sanity when Sydney comes," Dave told his friend. He knew exactly what was causing Randy to behave the way he was, but it wasn't helping his patience any at the moment.  
  
"Ali's coming," Randy almost shouted. He was possibly a little to excited for his own good.  
  
"Just ask her to marry you and get it over with," Dave said. He knew that Randy was considering it already, though he wasn't able to admit it to anyone.  
  
"I don't want to ask her yet. It's too soon; I don't want to scare her away," Randy said.  
  
"If you haven't scared her away yet then I don't think you can. You know you want to marry her, and she obviously needs you in her life," Dave said. He knew the was pointing out the obvious.  
  
"Dave she's been through so much that I'm afraid of pushing her to far. She's been hurt so many times that I want her to be able to ease into this," Randy said.  
  
"You guys have been in love with each other for almost twenty years I don't think that you can ease into it any more," Dave pointed out.  
  
"We hated each other for a while," Randy told him, "we hated each other for almost half that time. You don't make up for that in just a few months."  
  
"Who knows you better than she does?" Dave asked.  
  
"Leigh and that's about it," Randy said. He was getting what Dave was trying to tell him. There was no time like the present.  
  
He had an idea. He called his mom and talked to her briefly before going down to the lobby to check if there was a room available for Saturday night. He was already beginning to formulate a plan for Saturday night. He would have asked her in front of the world but she was to much of a private person for that.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
"What did Randy want," Leigh asked her mother.  
  
"He wanted to know if I still had my mothers engagement ring," Ella beamed. She was happy that Randy was finally going to do this.  
  
"He's going to ask her?" Leigh said. She and her father had a running bet on how long it would take and they had both severely overestimated the time. Leigh had said at least nine months and Bob had said at least a year. "Does Dad know?"  
  
"I was going to let Randy tell him. If Randy really wanted to be a gentleman about it he would talk to your father, seeing as he's the closest thing to a father that Ali has," Ella said remembering when Bob asked her to marry him.  
  
"Mom, don't space out here, we're still talking," Leigh said continuing the conversation that they were having previously.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Ali arrived at the airport late and in one piece amazingly. She headed toward baggage claims looking to see any sign of someone she knew. It wasn't long before she saw Randy heading towards her. He looked like he was up to something even from far away. He still hadn't grown out of getting a mischievous glint in his eyes when he was up to something.  
  
He wrapped her in a hug and gave her a kiss before she pulled her bag off the luggage carousel.  
  
"Here, I'll take it," Randy said grabbing the bag out of her hands. He didn't care that it had wheels the polite thing to do was carry it for her.  
  
"You surprise me more every day," Ali said giving him a kiss on the cheek. She could get used to this rather quickly. She loved being around.  
  
Randy walked with her hand in hand out to his rental car. He felt so right that he knew that Dave was right. This was the cement that he needed to be sure that he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.  
  
"Why are you so quite?" Ali asked in the car. She really knew something big was up. He only got quiet when there was something on his mind.  
  
"Just Mania," Randy said. He wasn't lieing completely he was just omitting the other part. He'd talked to her on numerous occasions about not liking the story line with Foley. He respected Foley more than almost anyone in the business and she knew that.  
  
"I finally get to meet Shawn Micheals," Ali said mostly to get him talking again. He knew that Shawn had been her favorite since she was in like second grade.  
  
"He's married. Sorry to burst your bubble. I'm not letting you out of my sight anyway," Randy joked. He knew that she was going to meet him somehow or other.  
  
"Hey I said I was going to meet him. Doing anything that would be impacted by the fact that he's married never came up," Ali said knowing that he would catch her drift.  
  
"But you were thinking about it. I have sources that tell me you thought about it many times through out high school," Randy teased.  
  
"You're right. Besides I bet Shawn is much more of man than you," Ali teased sticking her tongue out at him.  
  
The two continued their playful banter back to the hotel were, albeit reluctantly Ali went to the room that as of tomorrow she would be sharing with Syd and Randy went back to his room.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
"You were so right," Randy told Dave when he walked into their room. "I want to spend the rest of my life with Ali no questions asked. How come you knew this before me."  
  
"I knew she liked you before you the same way. I used my eyes not my emotions," Dave told him. "Some things you only others can see clearly."  
  
"Good night. I have a hell of a day in front of me since I want Ali to have the full Wrestlemania experience."  
  
"Hope you don't get mauled by your hoards of ring rats," Dave teased before going to bed himself. ________________________________________________________________________ Was it good? Bad? The only way I know is if you review. 


	21. Chapter Twenty One

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Vince owns the wrestlers. The Backstreet Boys sing Drowning so I don't own that either.   
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Twenty One  
  
It was Saturday afternoon and Randy was finally alone. Amy and Trish were taking Ali shopping, hopefully for a beautiful dress. He and Ali had spent much of the previous day and most of the morning at Axcess. He wanted Ali to have the complete Wrestlemania experience and it hadn't been as difficult as Randy thought with the large crowds.  
  
He had to get things set up for that night. It absolutely had to be perfect if she was going to say yes and eh would be happy with himself. It was 2:30 and he had dinner reservations at 7:00 that night. He didn't know where things were going to lead but he wanted the hotel room to be romantic just incase if something happened.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Ali was having so much fun. Her Amy and Trish were out shopping. It seemed like Amy and Trish knew all the best places to shop, and gave her some tips to find designer outfits and dresses for less. She was having more fun than she ever had. She couldn't wait until she got to get together with them and Leigh. That would be a trip worth remembering.  
  
She had the credit card that Randy gave her, but was trying not to use it. She'd done good at not giving into the temptation until she found a beautiful burgundy one strapped dress. It was one of the most beautiful dresses that she had ever seen.  
  
When they saw how much she wanted the dress, Trish and Amy insisted that she try the dress on. When she did Ali fell even more in love with it, if that were possible. She couldn't help it she just had to buy it. She felt really guilty that she spent his money to buy a dress.  
  
"Don't worry he gave you the money to buy it," Amy told her, "wear it to dinner tonight."  
  
"Then I'll need shoes, I only brought some silver ones with me," Ali complained. She didn't want him paying for all the stuff that she was buying.  
  
The girls continued to shop and found a beautiful pair of black strappy dress shoes. Ali got her hair done and some other things also. She couldn't believe that he was actually going through with this.  
  
She went back to her hotel room and Amy and Trish insisted on helping Ali get ready. They knew what Randy had planned and they knew the young woman in front to them would love what had planned.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
It was almost six thirty and Randy said that he was going to pick up Ali at six thirty so that they would be at the hotel at seven. He considered leaving her clues, or having a driver take her to the restaurant but decided against it.  
  
He was breath taken when he saw her. She was absolutely gorgeous. He was okay until they got in the car and were almost at the restaurant. His nerves started kicking in and as hard as he tried not to let Ali notice, she noticed. "What's wrong?" Ali asked.  
  
"Nothing," he replied. "How was your afternoon?"  
  
The two chatted the rest of the way to the restaurant. Randy's nerves started to calm as they talked more. It seemed like not matter how much they talked they would never run out of things to say.  
  
They were almost through dinner when Randy finally got he nerve. He fingered the box in his pocket before getting down on one knee. Ali wasn't sure what to think.  
  
"Ali I love you; I've always loved you. I've spent my life waiting for this moment. Will you marry me?" Randy asked. He couldn't think of better words. It was almost ironic that he was usually so good with words and now he couldn't find the right ones. He knew there was a lot more about he past that he didn't tell her but he couldn't care less. He wanted her with him forever.  
  
"Yes," Ali said almost instantly. She answered with her heart before her brain could take over and tell her how much this wouldn't work. He slipped the ring on her finger and gave her a kiss. They were both all smiles through the rest of the meal.   
  
"Babe, we have to talk when we get back," Ali whispered to him on the way back to the hotel. "I just want to tell you some of the things that have happened," she said when she saw the panic in his eyes.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Ali was again breath taken when she entered the hotel room. "Randy, I know that I haven't told you a lot about my past, but since we're getting married I don't want to keep secrets," Ali told him.  
  
"I'll listen but you don't have to tell me more than you're ready to tell," Randy told her grabbing her hand.  
  
Ali began telling him about a various bad relationships including one abusive one, and being raped. She didn't think that she would tell him any of these things. He had to keep his emotions in check because he didn't want to scare her. He was so angry that someone would do that to her.  
  
She got out the worst of it before she broke down. He just held her and let her cry.  
  
When she finished crying her told her to wait where she as sitting and turned on the CD player. "Dance with me," he said as the opening strains of music played. He wanted to feel her in his arms. It was one of the biggest natural highs for him.  
  
~Ohhh…~   
  
~Don't pretend you're sorry~   
  
~I know you're not~  
  
~You know you got the power to make me weak inside~   
  
~Girl you leave me breathless~  
  
~But it's ok'~  
  
~'Cause you are my survival~   
  
~Now hear me say...~  
  
~I can't imagine life without your love~   
  
~And even forever don't seem like long enough~   
  
~'Cause every time I breathe I take you in~   
  
~And my heart beats again~  
  
~Baby I can't help it~   
  
~You keep me drowning in your love~   
  
~Every time I try to rise above~   
  
~I'm swept away by love~   
  
~Baby I can't help it~   
  
~You keep me drowning in your love~   
  
~Maybe I'm a drifter... maybe not~  
  
~'Cause I long for the safety of flowing freely in your arms ~  
  
~I don't need another lover ~  
  
~It's not for me~   
  
~'Cause only you can save me~   
  
~Oh... can't you see ~  
  
~I can't imagine life without your love~   
  
~And even forever ~  
  
~Don't seem like long enough~  
  
~Go on and pull me under~   
  
~Cover me with dreams, yeah~   
  
~Love me mouth to mouth now~   
  
~You know I can't resist~   
  
~'Cause you're the air I breathe~   
  
~Baby I can't help it~   
  
~You keep me drowning in your love~   
  
~Whoa…~  
  
~You keep me drowning in your love~   
  
~Baby I can't help it~   
  
~No.. no..~   
  
When they finished their dance Randy planted another kiss on her lips. Ali couldn't resist and pressed herself closer to him instantly deepening the kiss. She needed to feel him next to her.  
  
Randy couldn't help himself he needed to feel her lips against his. He needed to feel her body against his. He deepened their kiss and things progressed further and further. Randy was careful to go slowly and to make sure this was what Ali wanted to do.  
  
After their lovemaking Ali and Randy fell asleep in each others arms.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________  
  
There you go. There will be one or two more chapters and possibly an epilogue then the journey that this has been this story. 


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

Disclaimer: If you think that I'm a McMahon you are seriously mistaken. I don't own anything nor do I make any money off it, hence being a poor college student.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate Chapter Twenty Two  
  
Ali swore to go she was never going to plan a wedding ever again. She was going to go crazy. It was the beginning of July and she had about a month to put the finishing touches on her wedding. She was never ever doing this again a long as she lived. Randy tried to help the day or two he was home a week, but it wasn't helping much.  
  
"Leigh, you Trish and Ay are going to help me look for a dress tomorrow, right?" Ali confirmed for what had to have been the thousandth time that day.  
  
"Yes," Leigh said. She was about to go crazy. She loved her friend, but she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. She'd helped Ali with much of the planning and was surprised how obsessive the girl could be.  
  
"I'm sorry," Ali said. "I'm being obsessive again aren't I?"  
  
"Just a smidge but you only get married once," Leigh told her.  
  
"If I get obsessive again just tell me," Ali told her friend. She was so thankful for Leigh helping her. She wasn't sure where she'd be without Leigh.  
  
"It's your big day; you're allowed to be obsessive about it," Ella told her soon to be daughter-in-law.  
  
Ali had been trying to get a grip on everything. She wanted to get married on her parents wedding day to feel closer to them, but didn't want to be engaged for over a year so she'd had five months to plan her wedding.  
  
"When's Randy coming in?" Leigh asked.  
  
"Late tonight. He's going home since it's closer," Ali responded. He wished he would let his family know these things so she didn't have to relay messages all the time.  
  
Ali stayed for supper par usual as of late. She had practically been living at the Orton's since she and Randy got engaged. Some nights she stayed the night and it was like she and Leigh were teenagers again.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Randy was half asleep driving home from the airport. Ali had offered to pick him up but he didn't want her out that late, especially when she had to work in the morning. He didn't want to cause her to be late.  
  
"Home sweet home," he mumbled walking through his door. He could see sprinkles of Ali everywhere as she was redecorating the house, gut she refused to move in until after they were married.  
  
Randy stripped down to his boxers and lay in his bed taking one last glance at the photo of Ali on his nightstand before falling asleep.  
  
He woke up late the next morning. He decided to see his parents. He hadn't been able to spend and much time with them the last few months as he wanted as helping Ali keep her sanity had been a full time job lately.  
  
He was as usual greeted by his niece and Leigh. He had so much fun watching Lizzie go crazy that she'd finally got to see him again.  
  
He stayed with his parents for a while before Leigh asked him to take Lizzie to school. He couldn't say no mostly because Lizzie practically dragged him out the door. He couldn't wait to have kids of his own one day.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Ali got out of work early that afternoon so she could go look for a dress. She didn't think she would find one but she would have to eventually.  
  
She walked in the door of her apartment to change and found none other than Randy himself. "What are you doing here? I have to leave in ten minutes," Ali told him.  
  
"What are you doing tonight without me?" Randy play pouted.  
  
"I have to look for my dress with Leigh, Amy and Trish," Ali reminded him. "And no you can't come too. It's bad luck for you to see my dress before the wedding."  
  
"I wasn't going to ask that. I was going to take up residence on your couch until you got home then I was going to take you to dinner and rent some movies," Randy said.  
  
"You're impossible you know that?" Ali asked laughing at him.  
  
She was still changing when she heard a knock on the door. "Randy please get the door and be nice to whoever's there," Ali asked.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Trish and Amy were not so patiently waiting on the other side of the door. They heard a voice inside and then the door opened. Both woman were amazed at who the saw.  
  
"How did you get here? I thought you and Ali weren't living together yet," Trish said having a blonde moment.  
  
"I came by to surprise her when she got home. She just couldn't kick me out. She's changing she'll be out in a second. I don't think she'll care if you come in," Randy said.  
  
"You are a nut case Orton," Amy said. "Do you spend every waking moment either thinking about her or with her?" She remembered she and Matt had once been like that.  
  
"Pretty much. I occasionally think about food, or sleeping, but other than that you're about right," Randy said as Ali walked into the living room.  
  
"I'll have my cell phone on only call if it's an actual emergency," Ali told him giving him a quick kiss.  
  
"I think I can make it a couple hours on my own," Randy said.  
  
"There are leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry. Please don't try to cook anything," Ali told him before leaving.  
  
The girls met Leigh at one of the local bridal shops and started their hunt for the perfect dress. They also had to look for bridesmaid dresses. They looked for hours and they didn't find anything. Leigh saw the first signs of Ali going crazy. "Don't worry chica, if we don't find something tonight we can always look again tomorrow," Leigh reassured her.  
  
"Really we still have time," Amy said. "I bet we'll find something when we least expect it."  
  
The girls continued to look for a while longer before Ali said that she'd given up for the evening. She was about to starve to death.  
  
"You want to grab some food?" Trish asked.  
  
"No, in order to leave my apartment I had to tell Randy I would go to dinner with him when I finished up. I swear he's a big baby sometimes," Ali said. The girls had to laugh.  
  
Ali got back home to find Randy asleep on the couch so she ordered pizza. She needed some junk food after the afternoon she'd had.  
  
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There you go its complete, well the chapter anyway. The next chapter hopefully the wedding. Please review 


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. I don't make any money. That's all you need to know.  
  
Fine Line Between Love and Hate  
  
Chapter Twenty Two  
  
Ali wasn't nervous until it came time to go to Leigh's and get ready for the wedding. Leigh, Trish, Amy and a couple of her cousins were helping her get ready.  
  
She had little butterflies floating around in her stomach by the time she arrived. She had to take a deep breath before entering the house.  
  
"Calm down," Amy told her friend. "He loves you; you love him."   
  
"I know I'm just nervous, not scared. I'm nervous that things aren't going to go as planned," Ali said. She knew she was going to be obsessive compulsive about this wedding.  
  
"Ali as much as I love you, you can't control everything. You and Randy are going to get married that's the important thing," Leigh told her friend.  
  
"Thanks Leigh. Let's get this show on the road," Ali told her friends. She was going to keep herself busy so she didn't end up driving herself crazy.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
It was ten minutes before the wedding was going to start. Ali was still locked in the bride room. She and the girls were putting the finishing touches their appearance. Leigh was he maid of honor, her cousins Kara and Jenna along with Amy and Trish were her bridesmaids and Lizzie was the flower girl.   
  
"Okay," Leigh said. "You've got something old right?"  
  
"Yeah, your grandma's ring," Ali said.  
  
"Something new?" Amy asked.  
  
"Yeah," Ali said gesturing to her dress and veil.  
  
"Something borrowed?" Trish asked.  
  
"Oh my God, I don't have anything borrowed," Ali said frantically.   
  
"Chill, I thought you would forget something. This has been in the family forever. It's mine, but everyone who gets married has worn it. You can borrow it," Kara said holding a braclet. She put it on her cousin's wrist.  
  
"Thank you. You saved me," Ali said maybe a touch melodramtically.  
  
"What about something blue?" Jenna asked.  
  
"The ribbon on my garter," Ali said.  
  
There was a knock on the door. "Are you girls ready?" Bob asked.  
  
"Yeah Dad, you can come in," Leigh said still playing slightly with Ali's hair.  
  
Bob walked into the room and was breath taken. When Randy and Leigh were children he saw Ali as much as he saw them. She was always over at the house. She had beocome like a second daughter to him. He was honored that she asked him to walk her down the aisle.  
  
" Thank you again Bob," Ali said hugging the man that had become like another father to her.  
  
"Sweetie, I couldn't have said no. It hink you have a nervous groom to make breathless. He's going to be amazed when he sees you," Bob said. "Lets get this show going."  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Randy stood at the front of the church nervously. He'd been okay until about five mintues ago. Now that his wedding was moments away from beginning he was sure he was going to go crazy if it didn't start soon.  
  
Shortly the organ began to play and the bridesmaids began to come out. The moment was nearing.  
  
When Randy saw Ali his breath caught in his throat. He knew she was gorgous, but he'd never seen her this beautiful. He hadn't seen anyone who looked as stunning as she did at the moment.  
  
The ceremony was pretty standard. (Ali had to hold her breath when the lines speak now or forever hold your peace were spoknen.) The couple had decided to say a few words about each other before their vows.  
  
Randy said, "We met in preschool. Well techically Leigh met you first,but I poured sand all over both your heads. You grabbed a hand full of sand and threw it back at me. That's when our friendship was born.  
  
'We've seen each other through good and bad. We've hurt each other, but somewhere in our hearts we've always loved each other. It just took my parents interfereance to help us see that.  
  
"I love you more than anything. I can't imagine the rest of my life without you in it."  
  
Ali had to take a breath before she began. "It seems like ever since we were little you knew me better than I knew myself usually. You can always tell when to back away and when to keep pushing. It's annoying at times but it's also always made me feel safe.  
  
"We've had our fair share of ups and downs. At times more downs than ups, but somehow we've found our way back to each other. Being here with you feels more right than anything in my life has. Being with you has made me feel complete."  
  
They exhanged the traditional vows and were announced husband and wife.  
  
"You look beautiful," Randy said while the photographer was setting up.  
  
"You don't clean up so bad yourself," Ali joked giving him a kiss.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   
  
Randy and Ali's reception was absolutely crazy before the wedding party arrived. They knew there was more to come. They'd wanted a fun reception and it didn't look like their friends were going to let them down. After all they were only twenty four.  
  
"I hope you know what you got us into," Randy told her.  
  
"Your friends are weirder than mine," Ali reminded him.  
  
The evening was a whirlwind. There was so much going on it was more like a party than a wedding reception. It was pretty cool.  
  
There was a point in the evening that Ali and Randy were afraid that they were going to have to kick their guests out. It didn't come to that though it was pretty late when they left.  
  
"You'll never know how much I love you," Randy said on the way home.  
  
"Something says I will soon,"Ali told him giving him a kiss.  
  
"I intend on showing you every way I can think of," Randy said before resuming the kiss.  
  
______________________________________________________  
  
There you go. It's all done. Randy and Ali made it through all the turmoil. Thank you all so much, especially my conistant reviewers. It kept me going and writing and posting. Hopefully there will be more from me soon. 


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